Marcos Juárez on His Hopes for Latin Music's Growth

I recently had the pleasure of catching up with my former Pandora colleague, Marcos Juarez, who has nearly three decades of experience in the Latin music ecosystem. Marcos and I worked together on the programming team at Pandora, curating listening experiences for audiences in our respective genres. He led the charge in elevating Latin music on the platform. His efforts not only expanded Pandora’s audience but also helped establish the foundation for Latin music’s rise in the digital space. With a deep understanding of audience metrics and a cultural intuition that guides his programming strategy, Marcos has been named a Billboard Latin Power Player eight times. During our conversation, Marcos shared his journey through the evolving digital music landscape, his thoughts on the growth of Latin music, and the broader cultural shifts driving this transformation.

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You've been at Pandora for 12 years now, and you were there through so many phases: personalized radio, on-demand streaming, and the SiriusXM acquisition. You've truly seen it all.

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I was the first genre-specific programmer at Pandora, and to my knowledge, probably the first genre-specific Latin programmer at a DSP. 

What were you doing before Pandora that helped prepare you for a curation role like this?

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My path was pretty unconventional. Like many of us in digital music programming, I’ve had a longstanding passion for music, but the route I took was unique. Out of high school, I started working at record stores. I was at Rasputin Music in Berkeley, where I worked in the international section and the hip-hop and R&B sections. That experience taught me so much about how to discuss music and engage with different audiences.

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After 11 years of music retail, I realized I had hit a ceiling, so I went back to community college and eventually transferred to UC Berkeley, where I studied Latin American Studies. During that time, I was also DJing and learning traditional Mexican music at the Center for Mexican Arts. I was active at KALX, UC Berkeley’s radio station, where I was the music director, training director, and had my own show. All of these experiences, combined with my Latin music focus, positioned me to join Pandora.

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How did the opportunity at Pandora come about?

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A former colleague from Rasputin, Michelle Solomon, reached out to me when Pandora was looking for someone to handle Latin music. They had clearly identified the opportunity around Latin music, and I was able to come in at a time when they were willing to take a chance on someone with my varied background.

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From when you started to now, what do you think were the key factors behind Latin music's explosive growth?

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I think a big part of it is the consolidation of listenership. Latin music has always had an audience, but in the past, that audience was fragmented across various mediums—physical media, YouTube, pirated music, etc. Now, more of that listenership has been consolidated into fewer platforms, making it easier to measure and track its growth.

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There’s also been a shift in acculturation. Non-Latino, non-Spanish-speaking listeners in the U.S. are now more exposed to Latin culture. This has made Latin music less alien to them, and language barriers seem to matter less and less. Globally, people have always embraced music beyond language barriers, but here in the U.S., that’s been slower to catch on.

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How do you balance your cultural knowledge and intuition with the data that digital platforms provide?

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It’s definitely a balance. If you’re involved in music and culture, you already have a sense of what’s happening. But now, it’s a lot easier to validate your assumptions with data. Social media algorithms can also give you early indicators. At Pandora, we have internal data, but tools like Chartmetric have really helped level the playing field when it comes to understanding global music consumption.

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In the Latin space, regionality plays a huge role. You can see something taking off in a certain region long before it makes waves in the U.S. Latin music often explodes in Latin America before making its way to the U.S. market.

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I know you’ve been instrumental in developing brands at Pandora like El Pulso and RMX. Can you talk about the creation of those brands?

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El Pulso and RMX were early franchise brands that I co-created with my colleague Leticia Ramirez. But before that, we also did some geographically targeted stations like La Pura Neta and La Jevi. These brands were an attempt to create something that listeners could relate to and see themselves in. It was a way to give Pandora’s Latin offerings more personality beyond just “the reggaeton station” or “the regional Mexican station.”

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I’m curious about the newer franchises like El Ambiente and Activados. How do these niche stations fit into your broader strategy?

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El Ambiente is a great example. We saw a need for a more explicit, edgier space within the corrido genre that didn’t quite fit into mainstream commercial Mexican stations. That station gave early exposure to artists like Peso Pluma and Fuerza Regida. Eventually, as the audience got more used to the sound, those artists graduated to RMX. Pandora has such a huge Mexican audience in the U.S. and we command such a big listenership for this music that we get these signals very early on, and I think in some cases have a head start, in programming around them, or at least, ideating around how to serve those audiences. The idea with these subgenre stations is to give a home to movements we see forming. When the music doesn’t fit into the broader, more commercial stations, we create a space where it can grow and be nurtured.

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Regarding what you mentioned about Pandora seeming to pick up on early signals better than some other platforms, what do you think it is about Pandora that really kind of sets it apart in that way?

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I think it comes down to two things: being first to market and investing in Latin music early. Pandora made a commitment to Latin music long before some of the other platforms did. There’s also a trust factor—Latino audiences know they can come to Pandora for high-quality, well-curated music experiences, whether it’s new music or nostalgic favorites. We’ve also maintained a strong programming team, and the quality of what we offer has only gotten better over time.

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The most recent Luminate mid-year report named Latin music the fastest-growing genre in the U.S. What do you think is driving that growth?

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I think it’s about visibility and access. Latin music has always had momentum, but now there’s more exposure thanks to advancements in technology and distribution. The rise of reggaeton was a key moment, and when that sound started to feel overdone, Mexican music stepped in to offer something new with its acoustic instrumentation and swagger. Artists like Peso Pluma have capitalized on that moment by bringing a contemporary, bicultural vibe that resonates with both the U.S. and Latin American audiences.

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Looking ahead, what trends are you excited about and hope for in Latin music in the future?

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Despite all the visibility and growth in Latin music, it’s still just a handful of artists that reach a certain level of success, and it's overwhelmingly men. My hope for commercial Latin music is that it catches up to general market music in terms of diversity. If you look at English-language music from the U.S., it’s much more varied. There are many prominent female artists, artists of color, and a broader diversity of sounds. There’s also more freedom to experiment, which is generally more accepted. If you look at what’s big in mainstream music today—whether it’s pop, electro-pop, R&B, indie, or hip-hop—you see a wide range of diversity in terms of both sound and the types of artists who rise to prominence.

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In Latin music, there aren’t as many artists who reach that same level, and it’s not because they don’t exist—it’s just that they aren’t as visible. My hope is that Latin artists are allowed to be whatever they want to be, explore any genre, and express themselves in any language. We're starting to see progress, but there’s still room for growth.