Spanish bands look to Mexico for opportunities

Mexico City: Spanish musicians are looking to Mexico for opportunities amid the deep economic recession that has hurt music sales and dampened concert attendance in their homeland.

Mexico is a dynamic market that offers Spanish musicians the chance to keep sharing their work with the world and earn a living from their art. Carlos Garcia, director of planning for the Spanish Music Producers Association, or Promusicae, plans to travel to Mexico and the US in coming days to try to find new markets. "With the Spanish market having dropped so much, one of the increasingly necessary options is to go outside, both for the groups and their managers, and the music companies," Garcia told EFE in a telephone interview. Mexico is the No. 3 market for exports of Spanish music, trailing only the European Union and the US, and is the market growing the most in Latin America, the Promusicae official said. Several concert venues opened in Mexico last year, such as the Auditorio Blackberry, which has a seating capacity of about 4,000, and the Arena Ciudad de Mexico, which holds more than 22,000 people. Spanish bands Love of Lesbian, Corizonas, Supersubmarina and DJ Dr Bellido will perform in a free event next Tuesday at the Spanish Cultural Center in Mexico City. The concert was organized by Promusicae to get the bands exposure in the Mexican market. IANS