From Fuerza Regida to Grupo Frontera, Oklahoma City venues leaning in to Latin music fans

Music fans who check out the Paycom Center's concert lineup for the second half of 2024 will see some impressive star power on the list, from Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Janet Jackson, global chart-toppers Olivia Rodrigo and Justin Timberlake and iconic octogenarian Barry Manilow to country superstars Lainey Wilson and Luke Bryan, Christian music standouts MercyMe and Kirk Franklin and five-time Grammy-winning rapper Childish Gambino.

But the downtown Oklahoma City arena's concert calendar also includes hot regional Mexican hitmakers like Fuerza Regida on June 14, Grupo Frontera on Aug. 18 and Grupo Firme on Oct. 24; Dominican American "Kings Of Bachata" Aventura on Aug. 1; and Puerto Rican pop star and actor Chayanne on Oct. 18.

By the time the venerable Mexican band Los Tigres del Norte, which has earned seven Grammy Awards dating back to 1987, plays Paycom Center on Dec. 1, the OKC arena will have hosted seven Latin music shows this year, including a February "The Trilogy Tour" stop for multigenerational superstars Enrique Iglesias, Ricky Martin and Pitbull.

"People can expect to see this as a regular part of our calendar every year. The numbers may (vary) just depending on who's going out. ... They've all decided to tour this year, and so it's been a good opportunity to leverage it," said Jordan Racine, Paycom Center's director of programming.

"But I think people can expect to see a regular occurrence of Latin shows in our programming strategy."

It's OKC's largest music venue, but Paycom Center isn't the only one in town that's putting Latin music on its concert calendar, a reflection of trends in the U.S. and global music industry as well as OKC's growing Latino population.

"I was actually there for that Pitbull and Enrique Iglesias concert ... and the place was packed. And it was such a great environment. You had residents there, and you had visitors, certainly, that drove in and spent a lot of money in Oklahoma City during that concert, so creating a lot of economic impact for us," said Visit OKC President Zac Craig.

"So, that content already is thriving ... and when we look at the face of Oklahoma City in five years and 10 years, or even further out, I think the craving for that content and that kind of programming is going to be that much more relevant."

How Latin music grown into an influential force in U.S. and global pop culture

Latin music — a broad category encompassing songs sung predominantly in Spanish and/or music incorporating cultural influences of Latin America — has long made its mark on American popular culture: Mambo became a dance craze in the late 1940s, Cuban-American actor Desi Arnaz made "Babalú" Ricky Ricardo's signature song on "I Love Lucy" in the '50s, and Mexican-born guitarist Carlos Santana emerged as a rock 'n' roll force by the late '60s.

José Feliciano recorded his Christmas classic "Feliz Navidad" in 1970, rock star Linda Ronstadt released her Spanish-language album “Canciones de Mi Padre” in 1987, and Latin pop stars like Iglesias, Martin, Jennifer Lopez and more achieved global fame in the '90s. In 2004, Daddy Yankee's "Gasolina" became a global hit, introducing the world to the Latin urban music genre known as reggaeton.

But the emergence of streaming has boosted Latin music to new heights in the United States and around the globe: Yankee and Luis Fonsi's 2017 smash "Despacito," which was remixed by Justin Bieber, is credited with changing the music industry: It quickly became the most-streamed song ever, tied for the longest-running No. 1 in Billboard's Hot 100 history and within two years, both versions had surpassed 1 billion streams on Spotify.

Latin music in the U.S. has increased in popularity and value over the last eight years, outpacing overall recorded music each year, reports the Recording Industry Association of America.

In 2023, the genre hit its highest mark yet at $1.4 billion, representing 16% growth over 2022, according to the RIAA's Year-End 2023 U.S. Latin Music Revenue Report.

Adjusted for inflation, Latin music market revenues in 2023 are now 14% above their previous peak in 2005.

Streaming is the top way Latin music fans consume music, accounting for more than 98% of total Latin revenues.

“Latin music has exploded in the U.S. over the last decade as a new generation of stars boosts the genre and streaming puts this dynamic sector at everyone’s fingertips," said Rafael Fernandez Jr., RIAA's senior vice president for public policy and Latin music, in a statement.

"No longer limited by language, access or outdated assumptions — Latin artists are shaping our culture as fans gravitate towards the spirit of this music."

At Paycom Center, Racine said top Latin hitmakers like Bad Bunny are transcending demographics.

"There are a lot of young college students, caucasian college students, who want to go see that show. It's not just a specific thing to the Latin community. ... More and more, the demand for those artists is being driven by a crossover effect," he said. "In a market where there's 60,000, 70,000 some-odd college students in a 60-mile radius, I think we have an opportunity to leverage that."

Growing Latino population makes OKC a 'no-brainer' tour stop

OKC’s Latino community has steadily grown for decades, comprising 21% of the population, according to 2020 U.S. Census Bureau data.

The city experienced a 30% increase in its Hispanic population in the decade between 2012 and 2022, Visit OKC reports, citing the Census Bureau.

"That could be surprising to some of our audiences when they come in ... that we have such a robust, diverse community, and certainly our younger generation of Latino residents here is pretty incredible," Craig said. "There's quite the demand for experiences right now, with the younger generation specifically, and right here."

That OKC's growing Latino population skews so young means it will be an increasingly influential demographic in the coming years, he said. According to Visit OKC:

• More than 50,000 residents in OKC are Hispanic and younger than the age of 18.

• 25% of children in Oklahoma City are Hispanic.

• For the 2022-23 school year, the student body in Oklahoma City Public Schools was 57.3% Hispanic, 19.7% Black, 11.5% white, 7.2% multiracial, 2.0% American Indian, 1.9% Asian and 0.4% Hawaiian/Pacific Islander.

"Assuming these people don't leave the market, and they stay here for the long-term, in the next decade or so, our Latin population is going to go way past 21%," Rainer said. "It's going to be a major opportunity for the major Latin promoters in the concert business. I think Oklahoma City will transform from being a market that selectively for certain shows can be a good Latin market to it being a no-brainer, a must-play stop."

Venues shift to appeal to next generation of Latino fans

It's not just Paycom Center staffers keeping OKC's growing Latino population in mind when booking concerts. Mexican American rapper That Mexican OT is set for a June 22 show at The Criterion, where regional Mexican bands Los Tucanes De Tijuana (Sept. 1) and Bronco (Sept. 7) are on the calendar, too.

Mexican underground rap group La Santa Grifa will visit Tower Theatre on Sept. 21, Colombian psychedelic funk trio BALTHVS will play Beer City Music Hall on Aug. 16, and Latin metal band Ill Niño will rock 89th Street OKC on June 23.

When Oklahoma State Fair organizers planned the Chickasaw Country Entertainment Stage lineup of free concerts for this year's Sept. 12-22 event, the final slot was reserved for a Spanish-language act with appeal for a multi-generational Latino audience.

"We've probably been doing that for about 10 years now ... and we have just seen tremendous — and I mean tremendous — support. It's one of our biggest days and one of our biggest concerts," said Oklahoma State Fair spokesman J. Scott Munz.

"We feel we're providing something to the Hispanic community, and it does well for us."

This year, regional Mexican band Los Herederos de Nuevo León will play Sept. 22 at the state fair. The Hispanic band is annually booked on the fair's final day to avoid conflicting with Latino community events like Fiestas Patrias earlier in September, Munz said.

In the coming years, Craig said those may not be the only concerts aimed at Latino audiences that people see at the OKC Fairgrounds, where the new OG&E Coliseum is under construction to replace the aging Jim Norick Arena.

"When you think about concerts, just in a brief period of time, we have new assets coming online (like) the OG&E Coliseum, where their capacity for shows is roughly 6,000 or 7,000 seats, this brand-new arena that we're building, which will get closer to 20,000 in capacity, and the multipurpose event stadium, which will get built, hopefully, right here in the heart of downtown as well," he said. "You're going to see diverse bands and groups hit all of these stages, which will be really exciting."

Paycom Center staff went from booking one or two Latin music shows in 2019, 2021 and 2022 to five in 2023.

In that time frame, the number of tickets sold to those concerts grew about tenfold, from 3,851 in 2019 to 30,963 last year.

Although groundbreaking Mexican musician Peso Pluma recently canceled his summer OKC and Tulsa shows, along with several other concerts on his North American tour, in favor of adding more dates in strong, well-established Latin markets, Racine said, rising Mexican band Grupo Firme will play Paycom Center this fall for the second time in about 18 months. The hitmaking group's spring OKC show sold about 6,500 tickets, landing it among the venue's top five highest-grossing Latin concerts to date.

"We're making the actionable, conscious effort to invest in this content and make it a part of our programming every year," Racine said. "We've got a run of these shows coming up, and I think, as we get to the end of the calendar year and see where everything lands, we could have a very strong story to tell."

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OKC establishing itself as 'no-brainer' tour stop for Latin musicians