December 09, 2009

By By Ayala Ben-Yehuda, L.A.

EMI and Mexican broadcasting giant Televisa have ended their four-year-old label joint ventures, sources say. EMI's U.S. Latin operation, now known as Capitol Latin, is headed by senior VP Diana Rodriguez. She assumed leadership in September following the departure of former EMI Televisa president Rodolfo Lopez-Negrete.

Televisa EMI, the companies' joint venture in Mexico, had existed separately alongside EMI Mexico. The latter is still headed by Camilo Lara, EMI Mexico president and head of Spanish-language repertoire for Latin America.

EMI's Latin artist roster is unaffected by the change; Flex and Belinda are among those expected to release new albums on EMI in 2010.

Also, "EMI and Televisa continue to work together to find and develop artists," said an EMI spokeswoman.

The joint ventures were originally conceived as a way for Televisa to gain access to a major-label infrastructure for music and artists spawned from its TV shows. The arrangement also provided EMI with an important A&R source and use of Televisa's massive media platforms, including the Univision network in the U.S., with which Televisa has a programming agreement.

The EMI/Televisa joint venture enjoyed its greatest success with pop supergroup RBD, which grew out of Televisa novela "Rebelde" and went on to sell over 10 million albums worldwide, according to the label.

But Capitol Latin's U.S. albums market share stands at 4.76% so far this year, lower than in 2005, when EMI Latin commanded 7.4% of U.S. Latin market share, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Subscribe to Billboard magazine today!