Reggaetón star Daddy Yankee sold some of his master recordings to Cinq Music and a financial partner around 2021, Billboard has learned, laying the groundwork for Cinq to reissue his 2004 breakout album, Barrio Fino, and five other LPs on vinyl later this year.
Cinq did not provide any details of the purchase to Billboard and no other information about the deal was available. The sale of some of Daddy Yankee’s master recordings was confirmed by multiple independent sources but went unreported at the time.
Sources tell Billboard that Daddy Yankee continues to retain ownership of his publishing catalog, which is administered worldwide by Sony Music Publishing. In the U.S., Spirit Music administers some of Daddy Yankee’s songs, including his hit breakout “Gasolina.”
A major acquisition was hinted at years ago. In 2021, Jason Peterson, chairman/CEO of GoDigital Media Group, the parent company of Cinq Music, told Billboard the company had acquired “one of the largest and culturally significant” Latin music catalogs but did not specify the name of the artist.
Cinq Music and Daddy Yankee have worked together in different ways for many years, and in 2018, Cinq partnered with Janet Jackson for the release of her single “Made For Now,” which featured Daddy Yankee. Since 2017, Cinq Music, with Barry Daffurn as president, has raised $410 million to fund music acquisitions, including $250 million secured in February. Following the latest funding, the company said it had $300 million in assets under management spanning 80,000 recorded music and publishing copyrights.
Cinq Music is no longer silent about its involvement with Daddy Yankee’s catalog. On Monday, the company announced it will mark the 20th anniversary of the Barrio Fino and “Gasolina” with the release of a Bhangra remix of the track by Tesher on July 26. According to the press release, the remix will be featured on the covers of numerous playlists at music streaming platforms as well as Spotify-branded outdoor billboards in Mexico City.
Barrio Fino and two other albums, El Cangri.com (2002) and the compilation Los Homerun-es (2003), will be reissued on vinyl by Cinq Music on August 16. Three more albums are slated for vinyl reissues on Nov. 15: El Cartel: The Big Boss (2007), the Talento de Barrio soundtrack (2008) and Mundial (2010).
“Gasolina” reached No. 32 on the multi-genre Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in 2005 and hit No. 10 on the U.S. Hot Rap Songs chart and No. 11 on the U.S. Rhythmic Airplay chart. Billboard cited the song’s “unforgettable hook” and “revolutionary” beat when it ranked it No. 22 on a 2020 list of the Top 50 Latin songs of all time.
Ironically, “Gasolina” never reached No. 1 on the Hot Latin Songs chart, peaking at No. 17. Although the song was a breakthrough for Daddy Yankee and helped popularize reggaetón to a broader marketplace, its chart success was limited because few radio stations played reggaetón at the time.
Barrio Fino was the first reggaetón album to debut at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Latin Albums chart (on July 31, 2004) and won a Latin Grammy in 2005 as Best Urban Music album. It would spend 24 weeks at No. 1 on Top Latin albums, and all told, an astounding 358 weeks on the chart. On the multi-genre Billboard 200, Barrio Fino peaked at No. 26 in 2005 and spent 54 weeks on the chart. To date, the album has sold 2.2 million equivalent album units in the U.S., according to Luminate.
