Warner Music Latina announced today (Feb. 23) its new leadership team with Roberto Andrade Dirak joining the company as managing director, Hector Rivera named SVP, A&R, Latin Music and Ruben Abraham appointed SVP, Marketing and artist strategy.
These changes follow the appointment of Alejandro Duque as president last year (he succeeded Iñigo Zabala) and the departure of managing director Gabriela Martínez, who left the company in January after 20 years.
“I’m delighted that Roberto has joined us at Warner Music and that Hector and Ruben have stepped up into these expanded roles,” Duque said in a statement. “With Roberto on board we can accelerate our vision to be a truly artist-first label with a globalized approach to artist development. This will help us empower the careers of our artists and develop more Latin superstars who can take their rightful place on the global stage.”
“I’m so excited to be joining the team at Warner Music as we put in place a new structure that will help us break artists across borders even more quickly,” added Andrade Dira, who managed was Sebastián Yatra for six years. He also worked with Carlos Vives and his personal and tour manager. “I’ve worked with some of the biggest names in Latin music and I’ve seen their global appeal first-hand. Now I want to help support a new generation of Latin artists and turn them into superstars.”
According to a press released issued by Warner Music Latina, the moves come as the label “looks to break more talent in the US and across the region, and further improve the synergies between its Latin American and U.S. Latin operations.”
Abraham, who has been at Warner Music Group for more than 17 years starting his career there as a label manager in Mexico City, shared, “I’m honored to be part of a leadership team that’s got such ambitious plans. The music market is changing fast and there are new opportunities opening up for artists every day. We’re here to help artists truly connect with fans and tell their stories in new and exciting ways.”
Meanwhile, Rivera has worked at Warner since 2017 landing his previous role as VP of A&R in 2019. “These changes mean that Warner Music Latina is well positioned to be the first choice for Latin artists from across the Americas,” said Rivera, who started in the industry as a studio engineer at Audio Vision Studios in Miami. “We’ve broken down old silos and we’re working as a team to break artists to regional and global audiences from day one.”
