We were lucky to catch up with Fernando Cabral recently and have shared our conversation below.
Fernando, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?
The truth is, there have been a lot of memorable projects. However, Santana was particularly memorable because of something on a personal level. I got into music because I wanted to play music. It wasn’t a business path, rather in high school I played guitar and was in bands and continued through college. In that vein, throughout my career, I have had the opportunity to meet guitar players who were mentors/inspirations.
Recently, I read a book about Eddie Van Halen. I met him once upon a time and he was quite the inspiration. He asked me about my guitar playing and treated me like a friend because he saw me as a musician.
I share that memory because it puts into perspective the time I got to spend with Carlos Santana. I saw firsthand how he works, and how he gets his sound. I got to see so much of his world. I think my guitar playing improved tremendously not because of a lesson but rather from watching. To understand his physicality.
On the other side, I got to work with someone who is recognized as one of the greatest guitar players of all time – both while recording in the studio as well as a live recording in Mexico where Carlos was born and raised. During that time, I got to know the amazing person he truly is.
Through that experience, I learned as an artist and musician but also as a human being. Carlos has a beautiful spiritual side of him that’s inspiring. You can understand how music and spirituality combine into one thing for him.
These different elements made the experience incredibly special for me.
Because of my work with artists, there’s a lot of trust needed and a relationship builds and it’s incredibly special. You’re building rapport because you both share something in common – music and playing an instrument.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
Sure. I got into this industry by playing music. As I said before, in high school, I would get bands together and play in clubs. I did the same thing in college while in Boston at Berklee College of Music. I remember playing at CBGBs as well as Cafe Wha? where Hendrix played as a solo artist in the U.S. I toured throughout the U.S and I consistently found myself managing the ‘business of the band’ from schedules to negotiations. I seemed to have a bit of a knack for it and ended up majoring in the business track in school.
Post-graduation I moved to New York to work at Warner Latin America. I worked for André Midani, an icon in the industry which left an impression. Eventually I landed at Sony Music Entertainment on the LatAm side. I did marketing in the region, A&R, new business initiatives, etc.
The second half of my career has been focused on building new businesses and expanding our services to artists. Today, we’ve built a ticketing operation in the region throughout Brazil, Chile, and Peru that didn’t exist seven years ago. We have a solid brand business where we match artists with brands which not only generates another source of revenue for artists but these brands come in with campaigns that give our artists increased exposure and attention in the market. They also provide additional tools to showcase our artists in what they do best. There’s also Sony Music Vision which is creating films, documentaries, animation projects, and more, again to tell the story of our artists in the market. My career has been in building these areas that provide a further service to our artists and are of great value to the company.
Have you ever had to pivot?
In the late 2000s/early 2010s, the industry was going in a very different direction. The pivot was to reset and be able to turn around a very difficult situation into what we have today. A lot of what we have today in business development and business initiatives started there. It was born in a moment where we had to pivot towards understanding what the market was and how to adapt. There’s a debt of gratitude to the people who worked in this industry during that particular period. It was difficult. I was living in Brazil at the time and vendors down the street had everything we were releasing for sale right there. We had a few years where we were fighting for the survival of the industry. In the U.S. it was more digital. In LatAm, it was more physical. Today we’re a thriving industry and it’s a direct result of our efforts to combat the challenges we faced.
Any thoughts, advice, or strategies you can share for fostering brand loyalty?
It comes down to passion and credibility. To develop any relationship with any artist or brand, you have to be credible, you have to follow through on what you’re doing, and you have to deliver. It’s very easy to promise things and make up crazy plans and so on. At the end of the day, it’s about delivering or over-delivering. You can have a plan with a brand, but if you over-deliver, there’s immense power in that. Creating that trust that good work gives you. Passion is relevant to anything in life. If you have passion for your work, you’re going to do well; if you have passion for your hobby, you’re going to do well. If you have passion for your relationships – at all levels of a relationship – you’re going to do that well. Connecting an artist with the right brand, and the right campaign is the best way to create a relationship and deliver success.