ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Music Executive, Sergio Rozenblat, has been a part of the ever-changing music business for the last 30 years and has been involved in the musical careers of a variety of Latin super stars during his career.  Rozenblat is not only a well-known music exec, he is also an entrepreneur, an attorney at law, a motivational speaker, a writer, a talented artistic director and a proud father of five.

Sergio Rozenblat was born on November 1, 1952. He moved to the United States from his native, Argentina when he was a teenager. He grew up in Flushing, New York and started his music career in his late 20's.

Rozenblat's association with the music industry dates back to 1977. While living in New York, Rozenblat was invited to fly to California for a Fania All-Stars concert by a family friend who was a producer for Fania Records. With some salesmanship and a bit of luck he was instantly hired by Fania's president, after Rozenblat proved himself by selling 100 extra tickets to the concert and giving all the earnings to the president. His honesty landed him his first job in the industry.

Soon, Rozenblat was responsible for radio promotion in California, introducing tropical music, which at the time was new in the market. Later, he managed Fania's recording studio in New York where over 30 acts recorded. When promoted to Director of Publicity, he became responsible for the national exposure of all the acts in the roster, including such artists as Rubén Blades, Celia Cruz, Fania All-Stars, and Willie Colón.

Early Start
From 1980 to 1987, Rozenblat's worked for CBS Records International as Director of A&R and Marketing. He was integrally involved in the initial recordings of Miami Sound Machine. Later he led the marketing transition of establishing Gloria Estefan as a solo artist.  During his stay at CBS, Rozenblat was responsible for managing the departmental budget, new artists signings, song selection, producer assignation, repertoire approval and exploitation of international unreleased catalog. He also negotiated the acquisition for distribution of the Fonovisa and Orfeon labels from Mexico, Cara Records from Texas, and Hispavox Records from Spain. 

While attending law school at night at the Universityof Miami School of Law,where he completed his J.D. in 1989, he kept the department fully operational, including the design and implementation of the crossover of Gloria Estefan and Miami Sound Machine. Other major international artists he guided while at CBS were Julio Iglesias, Roberto Carlos, José LuisRodríguez, Vicente Fernández and Raphael.

Following CBS, he practiced entertainment law at a prestigious law firm in Miami, representing among others, Gloria and Emilio Estefan.  However, his love for the creative process and the music never left him, enticing him back to the field of music. 

Rozenblat, with 3 of his kids and Gloria Estefan, back stage.

Rozenblat was appointed Vice President and General Manager of WEA Latina, a Warner Music International, Time Warner Company. When Rozenblat joined the record label in 1992, the company was in financial distress. When he left, the label had achieved the second position in market share of the multinational companies. 

Throughout the five years of Rozenblat's leadership, the company's talent roster expanded to include international artists such as Olga Tañón, Mana, Alejandro Sanz, Laura Pausini, Fito Páez, Miguel Bosé and Café Tacuba to name a few. Rozenblat played a leading role in the development of Rock en Español movement, which made Latin rock a viable commercial vehicle for the first time ever in the United States. He was also responsible for achieving the goal of having Luis Miguel become the first recording artist, in Spanish, to be awarded an RIAA Certification Platinum Record for sales exceeding one million units. 

Sergio Rozenblat & Olga Tañon, circa 1995

After much success at WEA Latina, Rozenblat started a new venture.  In 2000, Rozenblat joined forces with International Music Superstar Julio Iglesias, Latin American TV star Don Francisco and online music pioneer Larry Rosen to found Aplauso.com, a Web venture for Latin music and entertainment. However, the company never fully launched due to the Web 1.0 bursting of the dot-com bubble at the time.

Previous to the web-venture, Rozenblat was the Executive Director of the Latin Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences in 1998. This organization for the most part mirrors the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences in its services orientation. During his tenure there, three new categories were opened for the Latin Grammy Awards, memberships was increased 200 percent and the first Latin Grammy Award telecast was announced for September 2000, one year earlier than originally scheduled. Rozenblat's recommendation to book Ricky Martin for the 41st Grammy Awards telecast was influential in kicking off the Latin music craze in 1999.

In 2004, Univision Radio, the largest Hispanic radio network in the U.S. and Puerto Rico,  appointed Rozenblat, Vice President of FM Programming Operations for the U.S. Southeastern Region. During his tenure at Univision Radio, Rozenblat he was Executive Producer of four arena sell-out concerts, including Madison Square Garden, which generated millions of dollars in profits.

Rozenblat at the Latin Billboard Conference

In 2010, Sergio Rozenblat established an independent record label "The Entity", in which he produced and released Colombian recording artist, Charlie Zaa's De Bohemia which reached the top of the Billboard Latin Albums chart.

Today, Sergio Rozenblat, can be found writing, scouting new artistic talent and running his own marketing company, Alba Marketing Group, where he produces and directs print, television, radio and social media campaigns for clients nationwide.  Clients include financial, non-for-profit institutions and consumer goods companies.