Today we’d like to introduce you to Darlene Lopez.
Darlene, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I started my music career interning at Apple Music during grad school. I was studying to get my Master’s in Strategic Public Relations and was hired an an intern for the Latin Music team at Apple. From there, I took on the label relations role for US Latin and helped to build out the global strategy, build artists from emerging to global, and launch playlist franchises like ¡Dale Play! After spending five years at Apple, I left to TikTok to oversee Artist Partnerships for Latin music. Within the first month, I absorbed the Label Relations side for Latin music and ended up leading the Latin Music Business for North America (US, Canada) and Australia and New Zealand. In this role, I got to champion Mexican Music on a global stage and kicked off campaigns with artists like Shakira, Peso Pluma, and Omar Courtz. In early 2024, though, I started feeling like I could do more for Latin artists outside of building, so I launched my first business, a digital marketing agency named Evoke Creative. Now, I help to bring platform tools and resources from big platforms to artists that need to promote their music. Currently, the focus is on live stream shopping and how this new e-commerce platform can work for music promotion. Our biggest campaign of the year so far was with Fuerza Regida where we sold out on merch and promoted their newest album, 111XPANTIA, to their fans and followers.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I wish! But the reality is that navigating the challenges makes the wins even better. Early on in my career at Apple, I was excited to work for the biggest company in the world – and representing my culture in my role! However, I was not able to grow as quickly as I wanted to at the time and felt that I locked in too early in to my career. From there, I took a risk and went to TikTok, a completely different company with a lot of volatility. The company culture was completely different and I felt that I had to start over again and build trust, relationships, and learn the terrain from scratch. Now, as an entrepreneur and a business owner, I have to learn EVERYTHING. I’m the CEO, the HR lady, the publicist, the account manager, and more. And this is in combination with having to find clients, set prices, negotiate terms, write contracts, and do all of these things for the first time. It’s incredibly rewarding, though, when we lock it in and have a win with our artists.
We’ve been impressed with Evoke Creative Agency, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Evoke Creative was created with the mission to bring artists of color to the intersection of culture and technology. In this digital era, that means content, music, and digital platform knowledge for artists to promote their projects. Our focus is to bring access and knowledge of platform resources and tools so that artists and their teams can promote their music and attract new audiences. Currently, our prime service offering is live stream shopping – our way! Instead of asking artists to sell products a la Home Shopping Network style, we curate artists-first live streams to feature their music and merch while harnessing the TikTok algorithm that prioritizes LIVE Shopping. That way, our artists sell out without SELLING out.
Last month, we created and produced Fuerza Regida’s album release live stream 111XPANTIA LIVE, where we sold close to 2K albums in about two hours. We also broke global milestones with the highest registrations for any LIVE event and with one of the most impressions of any LIVE to date for the platform. Now, the only record to beat is our own. So, who’s next?
Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
I’m originally from San Diego, so I am a true lover of SoCal through and through. Los Angeles is the hub of entertainment, innovation and entrepreneurship for so many industries, and it provides the opportunity to create a community in any type of interest or passion you might have. That’s what I love most about LA – you can find your niche and thrive. And of course, the one thing I hate about LA is the traffic! That and the city/county take forever to repair potholes.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.evokeculture.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/instadar
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/darlenelopez/
Image Credits
Streaming En Transformacion Panel image – Tu Musica Urbano Conference
