Ritmo Beat: Thinking on a Grande Scale

As managing editor of a small magazine covering the Latino music and entertainment scene, Alfred Perez says his reward was largely the personal satisfaction of doing something he loved.

Now, as editor of Ritmo Beat, the new nationally circulated magazine that launched in October targeting the same niche, he can fly across the country for assignments and book expensive hotels for photo shoots.

For its first issue, published in October, Fullerton-based Ritmo Beat printed 200,000 copies and put them in convenience stores and bookstores across the nation. What’s the difference between Ritmo Beat and a handful of other Latino music magazines like Hollywood-based Latin Style?

Money, circulation and geographic reach.

Ritmo Beat is the first Latino music magazine to enjoy the financial backing of a large publishing company.

Its entrance into the national market was backed by New York-based magazine publishing powerhouse Primedia Inc. Ritmo Beat is published by Lowrider Publishing Group, acquired in 1997 by McMullen Argus, which itself was purchased by Primedia last year.

Lowrider magazine, with a circulation of 212,000, is the bestselling newsstand automotive magazine and a leading Latino-themed magazine. Lowrider conceived Ritmo Beat hoping to capitalize on the growth of the Latino music scene.

Ritmo Beat’s publisher, Ricardo Gonzalez--who also is the publisher of Lowrider magazine--says the new magazine’s goal is to become the Latino equivalent of Vibe or Spin--two leading music magazines after Rolling Stone.

He says Vibe offers a perfect model for ethnic coverage with its focus on the African American community. Vibe has a circulation of 775,000, and breaks down its audience as 72% African American, 25% white and 12% Hispanic.

“The idea came to us seeing the national level of success [Vibe] has had,” says Gonzalez. “And when I say ethnically driven, they are very, very aggressive when they address topics that are very relevant to the black community.”

And when Ritmo Beat adopts a wide format for its third issue, due out in February, it will resemble Vibe and Spin more closely.

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With Ritmo Beat’s first issue, the publisher was happy with the graphics and photography, but less pleased with the writing. “[The writing] was lower than expected,” says Gonzalez. “I would [grade the first issue] a strong C.”

Says editor Perez, who was hired away from Latin Style: “What makes this magazine strong is it can be picked up in New Jersey and in Miami. So now it’s my job to make the journalism strong.”

Ritmo Beat is put together in the same Fullerton facility where Lowrider is published. For now it will publish every two months. Though the magazine’s first focus will be music, it will also cover lifestyle topics such as dining and sports. (In Spanish, ritmo means “rhythm.”)

Its first cover featured guitarist Carlos Santana. Other features included interviews with Los Lobos, record producer KC Porter--who works with Latino artists such as Ricky Martin--actress Laura Harring and presidential candidates Al Gore and George Bush.

Stories in the first issue lacked depth, the staff at Ritmo Beat admits, and some sounded repetitive partly because of the question-and-answer format. For its second issue, due in the stands Thursday, Perez says the magazine hired freelance writers with more experience.

The cover features the Puerto Rican group Son by Four and the magazine also includes pieces on boxer Fernando Vargas, the history of mariachi music and claims that undocumented immigrants have been beaten and killed by American vigilantes along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Perez says articles such as the one on immigrants, as well as another in the works on white supremacists whose Web sites express contempt toward Latinos, will add depth to the magazine.

Ritmo Beat, which carries a newsstand price of $2.99, plans to print 200,000 copies of its second and third issues.

Gonzalez says it won’t be known for a few more weeks exactly how many copies of the magazine’s first issue sold, though he says there has been positive response from readers around the country. “Other [mainstream music] magazines cover Latinos only if they have crossed over, like Ricky Martin,” says Julio Pedroza, a Monterey Park Tower Records employee in charge of magazine purchases. “This one goes into other Latino artists just breaking in.”

Craig Nickerson, president of McMullen Argus, says “The [time] is right for a Hispanic music and lifestyle magazine.”

While Lowrider’s success has been made possible by its largely Latino readership, Gonzalez says Ritmo Beat has its work cut out to gain the support of the Latino community. “Lowrider is one of the true success stories in the sense that it is predominantly supported by the Latino community,” Gonzalez says. But “people already know in the business world that Latinos do not support Latinos. Whether it’s a movie, whether it’s a music release. . . . It’s the craziest thing.”