By Howell Llewellyn

MADRID (Billboard) - The 500-year-old cultural, linguistic and historical bridge linking Spain and Latin America has shrunk to the size of a mobile phone, at least in terms of music sales.

The impact of soaring Latin American immigration to Spain during the past decade can be seen in digital download and mastertone charts that Nielsen SoundScan began compiling in March for Spain's label association, Promusicae.

The market share for Latin music is notably higher than it is -- or ever was -- for physical singles or albums, and the sheer number of units moved underlines changing purchase habits among the new breed of Spanish consumers.

Examples: Mexico's Alejandro Fernandez's single with Beyonce, "Amor Gitano," had by late October sold 300,000 mastertone units in 26 weeks on the charts and 160,000 single downloads in 24 weeks. Jennifer Lopez's "Que Hiciste" moved 280,000 tones and 140,000 single downloads.

Nearly 10 percent of Spain's population (44 million) is foreign-born. Some 2 million people are Latin immigrants, most of whom have arrived in the past decade.

"The mobile phone is the Latin immigrants' most valuable possession, and it gives them easy access to music that was not there before," Promusicae president Antonio Guisasola says. "In Spain, some 83 percent of digital music sales are via the mobile and just 17 percent (are) via Internet. In Italy, the ratio is 60-40, and in France about 50-50."

Reuters/Billboard
© Copyright 2007 Reuters.