RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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Andrés Cepeda understands that, just as the music industry has evolved over time, he too must reinvent himself.
After three decades in a career that has included working with record labels such as Warner, Sony and FM Entretenimiento, Cepeda has decided to continue his path as an independent artist. Today (Aug. 5), he is relaunching Andrés Cepeda Música, the record label that marked his first steps in the industry, Billboard can exclusively announce.
“It’s one of those changes in the industry that we’ve been experiencing,” Cepeda tells Billboard . “I’ve been doing this for more than 30 years, and we’ve seen so many changes in the industry — from the way music is produced and consumed, to the way we present it, market it and everything else. Everything has been changing a lot, and it has brought us to this moment.”
The goal is to focus all his team’s efforts on his own musical projects, a response to changes that have transformed the role of record companies — changes with which he was no longer satisfied, he explains.
“I’m returning to being independent, or becoming independent, after making a major-label journey at a time when the industry has changed a lot,” Cepeda says. “The learning and experience I gained from working with these major labels forced me to build a team to provide everything the majors have stopped doing for artists. All those services that record labels used to provide now have to be handled by us.”
The five-time Latin Grammy winner says he perceives an imbalance between what record labels offer artists and what they demand in return: “The record label becomes a partner that asks you for everything but doesn’t give you much. It almost becomes a bank that you ask for a loan from in order to operate, so you’re simply shifting your financial muscle from one place to another. Now, you’re the one responsible for making those decisions.”
For the Bogotá-born artist, the decision represents a new stage in which he can become more directly involved in every aspect of his career, from managing his catalog to the way he connects with his fans.
“This stage of my career has allowed me to better understand the importance of having my own team,” says Cepeda, who rose to fame in the early ’90s as part of the group Poligamia. “We now more or less know how to make an album, for example, and get it to our listeners and to those we want to become our new listeners.”
As the first project of this new era, he also released the live album Andrés Cepeda Big Band 2 on Wednesday — the second installment of a musical concept that began in 2018 under Sony Music Colombia.
The new album was recorded live during a series of 12 concerts held in June 2025 at Teatro Mayor Julio Mario Santo Domingo in Bogotá. It features a full orchestra accompanying 12 songs that explore some of the most representative classics of Latin music, including “El merecumbé,” “Momposina,” “Año viejo” and “Rayito.”
With the project, Cepeda wanted to explore the history of the big band format and its journey from its roots in the United States to becoming a fundamental part of Latin music.
“In Cuba, it encounters son and bolero; in Puerto Rico, bomba and plena; in Mexico, huapango; and in Colombia and Venezuela, cumbia, porro and gaita — generating some of the most beautiful songs of this golden age of Latin music,” the artist says.
Among the album’s tracks, “Las pilanderas” holds a special place for Cepeda because it features the voice of Celia Cruz, whom he always admired and with whom he would have loved to collaborate during her lifetime. The inclusion of the Cuban singer’s recording was made possible by the discovery of an original tape that had been stored away, allowing her performance to be restored without the use of artificial intelligence.
“For me, it was an unforgettable experience to watch her work, to see her singing and recording in the studio. That memory has always stayed with me,” Cepeda recalls. “When I was making this album, I said, ‘That recording of Celia has to be somewhere. Let’s look for it; let’s find it.’ I eventually found the tape where she recorded it. Fortunately, it was in good condition, and I was able to do a small restoration.”
The experience also led him to repeat the process with a recording by Benny Moré on the song “Y hoy como ayer,” simulteneously fulfilling a pair of personal goals: “singing with two of the greatest voices in Latin music.”
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