Song Exploder is launching a new Spanish-language spin-off called Cancion Exploder, a podcast targeting Spanish-language speakers worldwide. The new podcast series takes listeners “deep into the process and art of writing a song, and thereby reveals something essential and true about the artist telling their story in their own words.” Cancion Exploder is hosted and co-executive produced by Martina Castro, with Song Exploder creator Hrishikesh Hirway serving as Executive Producer.
Martina Castro tells Portada that the Cancion Exploder, Song Exploder’s Spanish-language spin-off, is the first to really delve deep into the Latin identity of both the artists and the creative process itself. According to Castro, Cancion Exploder takes listeners “deep into the process and art of writing a song, and thereby reveals something essential and true about the artist telling their story in their own words.” Back in 2018 Martina Castro was introduced to Hrishikesh Hirway to make a Song Exploder Spanish-language spin-off version. Created by Hrishikesh Hirway, Song Exploder is an award-winning podcast and Netflix series where musicians take apart their songs, and piece by piece, tell the story of how they were made.
Castro, a Uruguayan-American, notes that Cancion Explorer’s content reflects the fact that many of the artists live in one country but have roots in other countries. The podcast series is a testament to how speaking “Spanglish”, or having a multicultural identity, influences music and, at the same time, the interest in and consumption of Latin music. “Cancion Explorer dispels the idea that you have to speak perfect Spanish to be a Latino. In fact, many of the artists perhaps are not that comfortable in Spanish.”
The first season of Canción Exploder will feature an eclectic array of award-winning and chart- topping Latin Music artists, including Nathy Peluso, Jorge Drexler, Mon Laferte, Silvana Estrada, José Gonzalez, iLe & Adrian Quesada, and Ibeyi. The first episode is available now and features Bomba Estéreo breaking down their song “Deja” from their critically acclaimed album of the same name.
Canción Exploder is produced and distributed by Adonde Media in partnership with Radiotopia from PRX. Adonde Media is the multilingual and global podcast production company behind podcasts including “Duolingo Spanish,” “TED en Español,” “El Verdadero Robo del Siglo”, “Emprendedores con Luis Von Ahn,” “The Last Days of Maradona,” “Vivo Songbook,” and “Después de Ayotzinapa.”
Song Exploder’s Spanish-language Spin-Off: Partnership with Hrishikesh Hirway
Cancion Exploder is partnering Hrishikesh Hirway to bring this type of artful audio storytelling to listeners en español”. The series has featured some of the biggest artists in the world––Fleetwood Mac, U2, Billie Eilish, Solange, Metallica, The Roots, Dua Lipa, and more––breaking down the sounds and ideas that went into their writing and recording. Song Exploder has been celebrated as “warm, deep, and illuminating” by “The New Yorker” and deemed as “probably the best use of the podcast format ever” by “Vulture.” In addition, “The New York Times” praised the show as “filled with serious lines of honesty, cinematic production, and peeks inside the creative
process.”
New episodes of Canción Exploder will be released every two weeks, on Wednesdays, and will be available free on-demand to listeners around the world across all major podcast platforms, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, and iVoox.
Podcast Marketing of Cancion Exploder
Castro says that there is an enormous growth in the Spanish-speaking podcast space and yet, many “Spanish-
speakers don’t know what a podcast is. Adonde Media will be launching a TikTok channel, as well as Instagram and Twitter accounts. Extra content will be provided on these channels.” There are two weeks between each podcast episode giving Cancion Exploder time to build up the universe in different countries. Gonzalo Castro, COO of Adonde Media, is leading the podcast marketing initiative for Cancion Explorer. The target number of listeners will be established after the current initial phase.
Cancion Exploder’s business model relies on monetization through advertising, either through the (CPM-cost per thousand listeners model or through branded integrations. According to the Latino Podcast Listener Report by Edison Research, U.S. Latinos show an affinity for brands advertised on Latino podcasts — 75% say they are likely to purchase a brand on a podcast hosted by Latinos. Music content certainly plays an important role in marketing, and even more so in the Latino market. Other monetization options include integrated interviews or 30 second ads.
Growth in Latino Podcast Listening
The above cited Latino Podcast Listener Report shows that there is a big opportunity to bring diverse and inclusive content to Latino audiences. “Podcasting is easily accessible but not intuitive. CancionExploder has all the ingredients to bring audiences to podcast for the first time”, Martina Castro asserts. The Latino Podcast Listener Report 2021 from Edison Research finds that 36% of U.S. Latinos age 18+ (16 million people) have listened to a podcast in the last month, which is a 44% increase over 2020 (25%). This is narrowing the gap with the overall 18+ U.S. population, of whom 40% are monthly podcast listeners. New research shows that this dramatic increase comes from both English-dominant and Spanish-dominant listeners.
One factor may have contributed to the changes seen in the most recent study: the COVID-19 pandemic. Over half (54%) of Latino monthly podcast listeners say they began listening to podcasts during the COVID-19 pandemic (March 2020 or after). Forty-four percent of non-Spanish dominant U.S. Latino monthly podcast listeners and 57% of Spanish-dominant U.S. Latino monthly podcast listeners began listening within the last year, which reinforces the idea that available content for Latino listeners is increasing.
Cancion Exploder
