Hector Almaguer

Hector Almaguer is a musician, writer, producer and record executive whose work has won a Clio Award and has been Grammy nominated.

Biography

Almaguer received an undergraduate degree in Studio Music and Jazz from the University of Miami. He spent about twelve years as a record producer with his production company Mor 2 D'Pop Productions, a music publisher through Rhythm Time Publishing, BonVox Music and NCR Publishing and an entrepreneur through his record label Next Century Records distributed by BMG with his long time music collaborator Enrique “Kiki” Garcia (best known as one of the original members of Miami Sound Machine and writer of hits like “Conga”, “Rhythm is Gonna Get You”, “123” and “Dr. Beat”)

Almaguer worked with some of Latin pop’s biggest names including Julio Iglesias, Chayanne, Azucar Moreno and Jose Luis Rodriguez (p/k/a El Puma) and lived in Dubai, UAE and London, England and Miami where he worked as a DJ in some of those cities most important clubs at the time.

Hector Almaguer tells the story of how in the middle of a very successful music career, he felt his skills on the business side were lacking and it was then he decided to attend law school. He explained "I wanted to be the best music business executive possible, and at that point of my career, I was dealing more and more with the major labels, other music publishers, licensing our music worldwide, dealing with artist managers and it was getting pretty thick. I knew how to make music, but the contracts left me feeling like I wasn’t in the game like I needed to be." So, while running these very successful music businesses, Hector Almaguer attended law school at the University of Miami and emphasized his studies there in intellectual property.

Soon after graduating Hector Almaguer opened his own law practice representing other musicians, writers, record labels and producers. His clients say that his experience gave him an insight that most lawyers simply don’t have. From there he went into the international television industry taking the position of head of business affairs at HBO Latin America Group and then took the number two position legally for Fox Latin America Channels before accepting his current position as the Senior Vice President of Legal and Business Affairs for Universal Music Latin America. [cite press release| title =Hector Almaguer has been named Senior Vice President of Business and Legal Affairs for Universal Music Latin America| publisher =Universal Music Group| date =2007-10-01| url =http://new.umusic.com/News.aspx?NewsId=559| accessdate =2007-11-13]

When asked why he would leave a very favorable and growing industry in television to go to the music industry, he simply responds, "I'm a musician and going to Universal is like coming home. Right now this industry is full of challenges but these are very exciting times and there will be new opportunities to make sure that artists as well as the thousands of people who earn their living in this industry can keep earning a living. After all, music is like air, I can’t imagine living without either one and I believe that there are a lot people who feel the same way."

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