Nelly Furtado, Don Omar and hip-hop legend Akwid are some of the trend-setting Latin talent awaiting our music fans of Terra Music Fest, a 7 hour festival of dance and music held Oct 3 rd in LA’s Gibson amphitheatre. Latinos and non Latinos interested in our music are most welcome both live on site and via free live stream from Terra.com.

The latest e-commerce figures from comScore clearly expose the penchant of Latinos to attend live events. Hispanic Internet Users spent $13,062,420 online for event tickets and outspent non-Hispanic in dollars per transaction, $181 vs. $166 respectively during the month of Jun ‘10. 1

Musical interest among Latinos extends across all screens, of course.

Chart #1:

According to Chart #1, Hispanic outperforms non-Hispanic and total for song downloading and digital music players on their mobile device. Rest assured that all of the fun with family and friends attending live events will be recorded and shared on their camcorder phone, again a more popular mobile service among Hispanics. This mobile dominant musical trend among Latinos is well noted across syndicated research companies. In particular, among cellular phone users it is the Spanish dominant/Bilingual Hispanics that shine vs. total in ‘Download/listen to music’ with their cell phone, fully 9% vs. 5.6% respectively according to Scarborough Research. 2

Placing a face to the crowd, it is incorrect to assume that Latino-esque events are purveyed mainly by immigrants, as clearly those born in The States are drawn as well: 3

His friend Carolina, who swears she is Brazilian even though she has never been there and two other 14 year olds that knew the name of every novela star that was in the audience.  These are the future vital consumers that will wake up one day and realize there is no longer a need to watch Spanish TV, listen to Spanish radio or chat with their friends in Spanglish.  You have to read their Facebook posts, it’s amazing how they mix the language and the culture so fluidly that not even the best copywriters we have could come close to matching the originality of it."

As it is now established that Latinos, all Latinos, regardless of acculturation or language preference enjoy relevant massive concerts such as Terra Music Fest, it is opportune to turn to our friends at AHAA, the Association of Hispanic Advertising Agencies (http://ahaa.org/) for more insight along this theme.

“A village, city, or language is the jointly created, partly unintended product of many, many hands. To the degree that authorities insist on replacing this ineffably complex web of activity with formal rules and regulations, they are certain to disrupt the web in ways that they cannot possibly foresee.” 4

The preceding paragraph is useful to frame the findings from The Immigration Deep Dive wave of LatinoMetrics co-sponsored by AHAA, the Hispanic Federation and LULAC for their Study presented during a webinar powered by AHAA Aug 31, 2010 entitled Changes’ In US Latinos’ Mindset & Social Behavior Resulting in Shopping & Economic Impact Due to Immigration Policy Debate & AZ SB1070 Types of Laws. This carefully stratified Study interviewed self identified Hispanics A18-75 in Spanish or English online or by phone with a margin of error of 4 percentage points. Their goal, as stated in the deck, is to understand how the entire community feels about these issues, not just voters or citizens.

Unfortunately for the sake of brevity only highlights are presented from this primary research work:

• Vast disapproval of AZ SB 1070: 8 in 10 Latinos disapprove AZ SB 1070, 7 in 10 disapprove strongly; only 13% approve of it.
• Perceived ‘real’ reason behind immigration reform debate is foremost racism & prejudice (30% of respondents.) Preference for Spanish language and attachment to Latino culture are NOT perceived as the central issue behind IR debate. About 1 in 3 Mexican, Mexican Americans, Foreign Born and those known an Undocumented, see racism and prejudice against Latinos as the central issue behind the IR debate.
• Biggest behavioral shift is sharp decline in shopping with entire family: Half of Latinos residing in Arizona have already decreased shopping with the entire family; 4 in 10 have decreased shopping with entire family significantly. Across the US, 1 in 3 Hispanics expects to shop less frequently accompanied by their family if SB 1070 Copycat Laws took effect in their states, as exposed in Chart #2.

Chart 2:

9A. Because the Arizona state government has passed SB1070 and the amendment bill that allows police to ask any individual they interact with legitimately for proof of their legal status, what impact has this had/is this having on your daily habits: Would you increase or decrease (INSERT LIST)? (READ LIST. ACCEPT ONE)

Sadly, this last point indicates a drop off in attending Latino music concerts or clubs among Latinos nationally, while accentuated within residents of Arizona.

• Drop off in entertainment lifestyle activities due to SB1070/Copycat Laws: Latinos in AZ have also cut their leisure activities drastically nearly 4 in 10 have cut attendance to their passion point of dancing and concert attendance. Across the US, Latinos aren’t as sure if they would cut those activities but the net effect in the face of looming legislation in their states is unquestionably negative, as seen in Chart #3.

Chart 3:

10.Would you increase or decrease (INSERT LIST)? (READ LIST. ACCEPT ONE) (SELECT ONE)

These behavioral changes undoubtedly translate to a negative economic impact, which is a shame, due to the well documented overall Hispanic buying power outpacing non Hispanic. Preliminary findings from our Terra Value Ad Study by comScore for Terra USA indicate that Hispanics spent a total of $310,830,129 in e-commerce during the month of Jun ’10 alone: $164,646,351 in non-travel and $146,183,778 in travel.

It would behoove us all to take a deep breath, regroup and reset. Footnote #4 from our opening paragraph indicates that major policy adjustments can be undone without great damage. In the meantime, we urge our friends in Arizona and elsewhere to join into Terra music fest from the comfort and safety of their own homes, if necessary, free via live stream as an option or attend in person.

Terra will continue to monitor and cover immigration policies and their impact to our community. Terra Research would like to thank AHAA, LatinoMetrics and Carlos Santiago of Santiago Solutions Group for their excellent Study and results delivery. There were 3,012,201 e-commerce transactions conducted by Hispanic Internet Users during Jun ’10 5; it would benefit those who are welcoming to them.

Sources:

1.) Terra Ad Value Study by comScore for Terra USA. Sep ‘10

2.) IAB. U.S. Latinos Online: a driving force. May 5 th 2010. Citing Scarborough Research, Multi Market Study, R2 2009.

3.) Zubi, Joe. Hispanic Tipping Point. Zubi Nation. Aug 4 th ‘10

4.) Scott, James C. Seeing Like a State. How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed. The Institution for Social and Policy Studies at Yale University. Yale University Press. New Haven and London. 1998. pp. 114. Citing footnote: “See, in this connection, the classic article arguing that our modest degree of knowledge about the likely consequences of any major policy initiative makes a strategy of “crab-wise” adjustments, which can be undone without great damage, the more prudent course: Charles E. Lindblom, “The Science of Muddling Through,” Public Administration Review 19 (Spring 1959): 79-88. A follow-up article published twenty years later, “Still Muddling, Not Yet Through,” may be found in Lindblom, Democracy and the Market System (Oslo: Norwegian University Presses, 1979), pp. 237 – 59.

5.) Terra Ad Value Study by comScore for Terra USA. Sep ‘10

By Natasha Funk

Published:  September 2010