With '14 World Cup Album, Sony, FIFA Look To Reach Pan-Latin American Crowd

The official album for the '14 FIFA World Cup, "One Love, One Rhythm," represents a "strategic effort to target a tantalizing but hard-to-define demographic: the pan-Latin American consumer," according to Reed Johnson of the WALL STREET JOURNAL. The first single off the album -- "We Are One (Ole Ola)" by PITBULL, JENNIFER LOPEZ and CLAUDIA LEITTE -- will be "performed at the soccer tournament's June 12 opening ceremony." The up-tempo, dance-friendly release is "designed to woo Latin American and U.S. Latino revelers." Project sponsors Sony Music Entertainment and FIFA hope that the song and album "will captivate audiences world-wide." RCA President & COO TOM CORSON, whose company is owned by Sony, said, "The broader agenda is to have global hits." RCA Records "will release 'One Love, One Rhythm' May 12." FIFA Marketing Dir THIERRY WEIL said that the tradition of an official World Cup song began with the '66 tournament in England, "when a song was composed for the first official mascot." He added that a handful "have broken out to become true global pop hits." Weil said that "Waka Waka" -- SHAKIRA's song for the '10 World Cup in South Africa -- "went to No. 1 in 17 countries, with more than a half-billion YouTube views and more than 3 million digital downloads." Sony Music Entertainment President & CEO/Int'l EDGAR BERGER "declined to provide figures for Sony's 2010 World Cup-related music sales." But he said they were "not massive. So it's not in the millions but it's highly prestigious and it has a great reputation and a great look" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 4/24).