Reservoir Media is the latest music company eyeing growth in Latin music through partnerships and acquisitions. In this case the latter: it is buying independent label Nacional Records, including the company’s publishing arm Canciones Nacionales.
The company was actually founded in Los Angeles, but has built a strong reputation in Latin music, with a catalogue including the likes of Bomba Estereo, Tom Tom Club and Ana Tijoux, and Grammy and Latin Grammy nominations into three figures.
Reservoir said the deal will help both companies “grow the next generation of Latin hit-makers”, with president and COO Rell Lafargue expanding on those ambitions.
“We’ve been deliberate about expanding Reservoir’s presence in Latin music, and this partnership is a transformational step in that strategy,” said Lafargue.
Earlier this week, research firm Luminate’s mid-year report hailed the continued surge of Latin music both in the US and worldwide, noting that “Latin music’s global growth engine is running on two powerful, independent tracks: massive, singular pop culture events and a deep, highly collaborative streaming ecosystem within regional subgenres”.
It also noted that 9.4% of US on-demand music streams are now of Spanish-language tracks. Meanwhile, US labels body the RIAA reported that wholesale Latin recorded-music revenues topped $1bn in that country for the first time in 2025.
