Wisin & Yandel “Step Up” for film soundtrack

Wisin & Yandel “Step Up” for film soundtrack

Spanish-language voice-overs are common in movie trailers aimed at the Hispanic market, but the campaign behind the dance movie “Step Up 3D” relies heavily on two Latin songs to promote the film in the United States and Latin America.

The soundtrack for the Touchstone Pictures/Summit Entertainment film, due July 27 on Atlantic Records, features a new Wisin & Yandel song, “Irresistible.” The song is heard in the film along with “No Te Quiero,” by new artist Sophia del Carmen featuring Pitbull. The latter song is included on a Latin American version of the soundtrack, also due July 27.

The songs will also be used in promo spots and trailers for the film in the United States, where it’s slated for an August 6 release, and in Latin America, where country-by-country releases will stretch between August and October.

In what may be an unprecedented collaboration between a movie studio and a Latin music act, Touchstone parent company Disney paid for the “Irresistible” video, which shows scenes from the movie. Clips from “Step Up 3D” and a trailer will be shown at Wisin & Yandel’s fall concerts in the United States and Latin America. The duo will also perform “Irresistible” on Univision’s Premios Juventud awards show July 15 with the film’s dancers.

“Our fastest and biggest potential growing demographic audiences are Hispanic and African-American,” says Mitchell Leib, president of music and soundtracks for Walt Disney Studios and Disney Music Group. “We paid for the video, paid a master license fee, paid a synch fee and an artist fee,” Leib adds, in a deal that he says is worth six figures. The studio is also contemplating running radio spots to promote Wisin & Yandel’s tour, with a tagline promoting “Step Up 3D.”

Although music consultants reached out to Wisin & Yandel manager Edgar Andino with ideas, including collaborations with Sean Kingston and T-Pain, the duo wrote and recorded their song with their producer, Tainy, while on the road in Argentina.

“I didn’t just want to put a song on the soundtrack and have people forget about it,” Andino says.