FMF Street Awareness Network – Latin Alternative.

Today, besides the mainstream “Latin sound” heard daily on the radio, there are new vibrant and eclectic fusions of Spanish Rock with themes from every corner of Latin America which are known as Latin alternative music.

Since 1992, FMF Promotions has become one of the leading independent promotion companies dealing with Latin alternative radio and marketing, servicing over 150 alternative radio shows and more than 200 college stations nationwide. Based on this experience, and as it celebrates its tenth anniversary, FMF Promotions is launching the FMF Street Awareness Network, a street promotion and retail campaign to help put Latin alternative music at the forefront of Latin culture in the US.

The FMF Street Awareness Network will both help develop alternative artists and also correct the lack of support for alternative radio shows. Even though promoters have found effective ways to introduce Latin alternative artists to new audiences -such as direct marketing, tour support and street teams- community and college radio stations are still extremely important in developing a coherent and interactive network of Latin alternative music outlets. So far, radio DJs have mostly limited themselves to doing the usual give-aways, phoners or live interviews, when maybe, they felt they could do a lot more, but were neglected by big company policies and recording labels, which often, do not closely work with their artists and alternative radio shows.

The FMF Street Awareness Network seeks to get the fans involved in the process of promoting artists they would like to hear more often on the radio. FMF Promotions will provide all its radio affiliates with the necessary materials (CD’s, videos, fliers, banners, T-shirts, hats, tickets, etc.), to help them mobilize street teams that will reach out to people ready to be “unplugged ” from mainstream radio. This will be done mainly at clubs and retail record stores, but it will also include community and campus newspapers, and popular hangouts.

Latin alternative music is evidently at a crossroads. Radio shows have the potential to lead their own street teams through the airwaves because they have access to inside information and artist materials from promotion companies. Radio shows help integrate their listeners, as they become street team members themselves, simply because of how close they feel to the music they love and the artists they admire, and because of the free promotional materials (CD’s, videos, fliers, banners, T-shirts, hats, ticket giveaways, etc.) they receive.