Lazona, Elhood give Latinos their online space (BILLBOARD)

Sat Jul 1, 2006
By Leila Cobo

MIAMI (Billboard) - Given the success of MySpace among all users, Latins included, it was only a matter of time before a social networking site specifically targeted that demographic.

In fact, there are two Spanish-language, music-centric sites now up and running.

MTV Networks Latin America's Lazona.com, officially announced June 29, may evolve to become an all-encompassing social networking site. But now it is being touted as a Spanish-language site for bands and music lovers, with an emphasis on new and unsigned acts from Latin America.

Meanwhile, Miami-based Elhood.com followed its March beta launch with an official June 26 kickoff, with similar goals. The bilingual site is described by Damian Bellumio, president of parent company Hoodiny Entertainment Group, as "an entertainment site that begins with music but wants to evolve into all media."

The heads of both sites acknowledge the influence and success of MySpace but say there was still opportunity in the area of social networking.

"We felt the Latin American audience had been underserved," says Luis Goicouria, vice president of new media for MTV Networks Latin America. "Sites like MySpace work in all languages but don't target Latin Americans. We felt there was a niche to fill."

Bellumio says Elhood, which also has an office in Spain and expects to open one in Los Angeles, plans to address the bilingual, bicultural reality of much of the younger Latin demographic in America.

"We wanted to create a company that presented the best of both worlds," Bellumio says. "Unfortunately, most of the innovation happens in the Anglo market, and that is one of the things that frustrate me. So we looked at the best practices in the U.S. market and put them into a portal. With social networking, the beauty is (that) the content creates itself."

While Elhood offers personal and miscellaneous postings, the site is most definitely music-oriented, featuring established artists alongside unknowns. Technical features include 1 GB of free storage and the capacity to create individual playlists for streaming. Bellumio has been financed with private funding, but the plan is to become advertising-driven.

MTV also plans for its model to become advertising-driven. Lazona will no doubt benefit from the reach of the MTV brand. The site logically would tie in with U.S.-based MTVTr3s -- the newly named U.S. Latin MTV channel -- after its planned September launch.

Lazona already is getting substantial exposure through MTV Networks Latin America, which reaches some 16 million homes in the continent, excluding Brazil. For the past six weeks, new musical acts have been encouraged to enter a contest through Adiosgarage.com, housed at Lazona; five bands are chosen monthly with the winner voted upon by the community. The ultimate winning band will be featured on MTV Latin America show "Alerta."

The response so far has been overwhelming, with 12,000 fans and 10,000 acts registering for the site.

According to MTV, for the month of May alone, Lazona had 1.4 million page views, 50,000 visitors and 11,000 new users.

Most acts hail from Mexico and Argentina, but, Goicouria says, "there was just tons and tons of good music that we felt we could reach."

Social Networking Sites Target Latin Audience (BILLBOARD)

June 29, 2006
By Leila Cobo

Two companies have launched social networking sites geared towards Latin users.

Lazona.com (The Zone) belongs to MTV Networks Latin America and is available to users throughout Latin America, in Spanish (although profiles are accepted in any language) and is conceived as a place to break and discover new accts. According to MTV, the site has already registered more than 10,000 acts and 12,000 fans.

Elhood.com, headquartered in Miami, calls itself a “digital entertainment” site and global online community for individuals who share a passion for Latin content, particularly music. Elhood is owned by Hoodiny Entertainment Group, which specializes in digital entertainment.

The promotion and exposure of new acts and new music is at the crux of both sites, which allow users to register from any part of the world. However, given that MTV Latin America reaches audiences on that continent, its users will fall heavily from that area, while elhood has made U.S. second and third generation Latins one of its priorities.

Although Lazona is officially being announced today (June 29), MTV has indirectly promoted it for the past several weeks via its MTV Latin America network by inviting acts to participate in Adiosgarage.com, a contest housed at Lazona. Through Adiosgarage, bands can enter a contest in which five bands are chosen monthly with the winner voted upon by the community. The ultimate winning band will be featured on MTV Latin America show “Alerta.”

The impetus behind Lazona.com was to expose new music that would otherwise not be heard, says Luis Goicouria, VP of new media for MTV Networks Latin America. Although big acts can also be on the site, Lazona will focus on the new.

“There are tons and tons of good music at a grassroots level that we felt we could reach,” says Goicouria. “Lazona is very targeted. Our goal is to bring about a sort of sea of change across the region, so that people all around can hear bands they would never get to hear.”Although Lazona is music-targeted, Goicuria expects the community to broaden in the next months.

As for Elhood, president Demian Bellumo calls it “an entertainment site that begins with music but wants to evolve into all genres.”