Mexico’s Cafe Tacuba Eyes the Global Market

For all the interest in Latin-related music, rock en espan~ol has still drawn limited interest from U.S. record labels.

But Mexico City-based band Cafe Tacuba is drawing a lot of attention from U.S.-based companies and is expected to sign a global deal with one, perhaps as soon as next month. To many in the music business, the band’s reputation for dynamic concerts and adventurous musical approach mean it has a chance to make major inroads in the U.S., not just with Spanish-speaking fans, but with a general audience attracted to a sophisticated brand of rock.

Heads of the major companies’ Mexican offices as well as some international representatives sent from the U.S. were seated together at the group’s Nov. 30 Mexico City concert on the eve of the inauguration of President Vicente Fox. The group, though, has discouraged a bidding-war mentality. Instead, it wants to hear what plans suitors have for increasing its worldwide reach without turning its back on its Latin American home base.

“We are looking for a company that has a coordinated plan for purposes of supporting the group in Latin America, North America and overseas,” says Jill Berliner, the band’s Los Angeles-based attorney. “That’s been the plan all along--start with Mexico and build from that.”

While Berliner would not confirm which labels were in the running, word is that Virgin Records, Universal Records and Maverick Records are the leading competitors. Virgin has its established EMI international presence and a track record for “world” music. Universal comes with a strong Latin American operation and a label-production deal with Gustavo Santaolalla, who has produced Cafe Tacuba albums. And Maverick is teamed with Warner Bros. Records Mexico, the home of the band’s albums thus far.

The band has already made some efforts to establish a foothold here, playing sold-out club concerts and opening shows for Beck. It also benefited from the Warner Bros. Records Burbank staff’s active role in promoting the band’s last album outside the Spanish-speaking market.

Still, it was only able to sell 21,000 copies here of that album, 1999’s two-CD set “Reves/Yosoy,” according to SoundScan. Even Spanish-language rock radio stations don’t give the band much airplay here, preferring more straight-ahead fare such as singer Shakira and the band Mana. The conventional wisdom is that a U.S. breakthrough would require spending considerable time on tour, possibly at the expense of other markets.

Music executive Kim Buie, who tried to sign the band three years ago at Capitol Records, says that any U.S. potential is secondary to the possibilities elsewhere, given U.S. companies’ increased awareness of the international market.

“When I was at Capitol actually pursuing them, it was seen as a worldwide signing,” says Buie, now West Coast general manager and head of A&R; for independent RykoPalm. “It’s not about what they can do in any one market, and it’s also about their creativity and potential. And the same is exactly true today.”

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BECK TO THE FUTURE: It was no surprise when Rage Against the Machine parted ways with managers John Silva and Gary Gersh in September. After all, Rage went through four managers in three years.

But the sudden departure of Beck from the same team last week seems to have caught everyone by surprise. Silva and Gersh would not comment, but Beck spokesman Dennis Dennehy, Interscope Records national director of publicity, said he was stunned when he heard the news, and that no reason for the change has been stated.

Beck had been with Silva since the early ‘90s when he scored a Geffen Records deal on the heels of his alternative-rock radio hit “Loser.” Silva is credited with helping Beck secure unique contractual freedoms allowing him to explore multifaceted musical interests and work with independent labels as well as Geffen, which is now part of Interscope. Beck’s 1996 album “Odelay” sold more than 2 million in the U.S., and the more subdued “Mutations,” released without a tour or heavy promotion to support it, sold more than 500,000. But 1999’s “Midnite Vultures,” the “real” follow-up to “Odelay,” was a disappointment with 594,000 in sales.

Still, the split came so unexpectedly that there hasn’t even been any solid speculation about where Beck might be headed.

Gersh and Silva, who earlier this year suffered through the collapse of the Digital Entertainment Network with which they had partnered, will continue with the Beastie Boys, Foo Fighters and Sonic Youth in their management stable. They’re also concentrating on building Grand Royal Records, owned by the Beastie Boys, with which they merged their G.A.S. label. The merged entity has signed a deal with Virgin Records and recently released the major-label debut of rock band At the Drive-In.