Mottola recalls Grammys stand-off as Latin chiefs trace global rise

Sony once threatened to withdraw its artists from the Grammy broadcast unless Ricky Martin was allowed to perform.

That was the account from Tommy Mottola on Monday, Oct. 19, during “The Rise of Latin Music Globally” at the Faena Theater in Faena Forum Miami Beach, Fla. Mottola, founder and chairman of Mottola Media Group and former chairman and chief executive of Sony Music Entertainment, said organisers had initially resisted the performance Billboard.

Martin then performed “The Cup of Life” on the Grammys. The slot helped introduce him to a broader audience in the United States.

The room listened. The story drew a direct line between one televised performance and the wider push for Spanish-language music on mainstream American stages.

Mottola was joined by Alex Gallardo, president of Sony Music U.S. Latin. The session was moderated by Billboard co-chief content officer Leila Cobo and billed as a keynote conversation on Latin music’s global growth.

Gallardo focused on scale. Mexico, Brazil and U.S. Latin now rank among the biggest music markets in the world, he said. U.S. Latin — the Spanish-language market inside the United States, measured by streams and sales grouped as consumption — would rank around No. 6 by consumption if it were counted as its own country.

That framing puts language markets alongside national ones. It also explains why labels now treat Latin repertoire as central business rather than a specialist category.

The conversation opened Day 01 of Billboard Latin Music Week 2026, which runs Oct. 19–22, according to the event’s official schedule. The week coincides with the 2026 Billboard Latin Music Awards, set to air Thursday, Oct. 22 Billboard.

For fans, this means context for what they hear on playlists and award shows. The panel paired two generations of the industry: one executive who fought for airtime in the broadcast era, and one running a frontline label division in the streaming era.