Bronco Records Now in Streaming Services

This post is also available in: Español

Bronco, the record label of legendary bassist, arranger, and bandleader Bobby Valentin, has now made their catalog available in streaming services.

If you’re a fan of old Salsa, this is great news!

Bobby Valentin, Willie Rosario, and Raphy Leavitt Albums Available

Bobby Valentin’s catalog under Bronco started in 1975 and include recordings with Marvin Santiago, Johnny Vazquez, Luigui Texidor, Cano Estremera, Rafu Warner, Luisito Carrion, and others. Bobby has a ton of good music in those albums and now we can enjoy them through our favorite streaming service.

There are a couple of notable exceptions. The maestro did not include the two recordings he did live at the San Juan Penitenciary (a.k.a. Oso Blanco). The first one marked the debut of this Bronco Records label, and became an instant hit and classic. The second was his return to celebrate his 35th Anniversary, and was also recorded in video for a DVD.

Note: you can read the related blog “Bobby Valentin’s Bronco and ‘Va a la Carcel’ 40 Years Later”

Willie Rosario recorded several albums with Bronco, including the golden age of when Gilberto Santa Rosa and Tony Vega were with the band.

Raphy Leavitt also jumped in the Bronco bandwagon for a brief time and recorded and handful of albums with Bronco.

…oh yes, there’s one more exception. Bobby Valentin did make available “Mind of a Master“, his 2018 Latin Jazz album, in the streaming services. Perhaps he wanted to test the waters with it.

Bronco Joins the Streaming World

Bobby Valentin may have had economic reasons for taking this long to bring his Bronco Records catalog to the streaming services. There have been many arguments about the fairness of earnings artists and all involve in producing the music make through these services.

But it is clearly the way the world is consuming music. The most recent report by IFPI says that now most people consume music through streaming vs. playing CD or LPs at home.

Radio remains the main medium to consume music capturing 28% of the time people spent listening to music. It is followed very closely by smartphones with 27%. Hi-Fi and Turntables account for only 8% of the time people spent listening to music.

Of those polled, 89% used streaming services in the last month, and 64% listen to music through audio-streaming, an increase of 7% from last year. People above 35 years, the ones more likely to listen to Salsa from the 70’s and 80’s, were responsible for the biggest increase in that streaming category.

It goes without saying that making the Bronco catalog available in streaming services should be a win-win for the maestro Bobby Valentin and for Salsa fans.

Thanks maestro!