Reggaeton rug rat, 8, to tour with Daddy Yankee

NEW YORK (Billboard) - Reggaeton videos don't usually take place at a petting zoo. But if you're 8-year-old Puerto Rican novelty Miguelito, replicating your success on the mainland requires a family-friendly approach.

Miguelito is the first new artist signed to Daddy Yankee's El Cartel label, which is jointly releasing his album with Machete Music. "Mas Grande Que Tu" has sold 16,000 copies since its December 19 release, with 83 percent of sales coming from Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Miguelito's squeaky voice and precocious swagger -- the video to his "Ponle el Boom Boom" features him in a dolphin pool with backup dancers in bikinis -- brought his album to No. 16 on Billboard's Top Latin Albums chart in January. Heavy spins of that song and first single "Montala" on San Juan radio helped drive initial sales and led to endorsements: Miguelito has recorded a jingle for Malta India beverages.

Album sales have since dropped off despite a smattering of mainland radio plays. But the young performer will join Daddy Yankee on tour later this year, after Machete rereleases "Mas Grande Que Tu" with extra tracks and videos in April.

Miguelito has begun a slew of TV and personal appearances, from taping Univision's "El Gordo y La Flaca" in January to planned stops at all the major Latin festivals this year, such as Los Angeles' Fiesta Broadway and New York's 116th Street Festival.

Because of Miguelito's age and visual appeal, "we have to come up with initiatives that are creative," says his manager, Edwin Prado, who is developing a kid-friendly "club night" in Puerto Rico around the boy.

Prado, who also manages Daddy Yankee, hopes to leverage the superstar's syndicated "On Fuego Radio" show on ABC Radio Networks into spins for Miguelito on Radio Disney.

Such exposure should help Miguelito tap further into reggaeton's kiddie market. EMI's two "Reggaeton Ninos" compilations, which feature a chorus of children singing cleaned-up covers of hits in the genre, have sold a combined 182,000 units.

Reuters/Billboard

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