To many of the music world, Rafael Ricardo Jiménez-Dan stays an enigma.
Despite founding Rimas in 2014 – the corporate behind world celebrity Bad Bunny and one of the influential forces in Latin music – he has by no means publicly mentioned his journey, his imaginative and prescient, or the controversial job he as soon as held in Venezuelan politics.
That modifications as we speak.
Speaking from his dwelling in Florida, the rich Venezuelan entrepreneur is lastly prepared to inform his story. It’s a story of risk-taking, household sacrifice, and the relentless pursuit of a dream that might in the end reshape the Latin music panorama.
Yet, in accordance with Jiménez-Dan, it’s additionally a narrative that has been distorted by inaccurate media hypothesis, authorized filings, and political opportunism.
The catalyst for our dialog was MBW’s latest protection of the unbiased music revolution, which referenced varied media reviews about Rimas’s origins.
Jiménez-Dan is especially eager to clear up particulars of his historical past working within the authorities of Hugo Chávez.
This affiliation has been whipped up not solely by media reviews but additionally by one specific headline-chasing politician in Puerto Rico, who used it as the premise for her suggestion that Rimas and/or Bad Bunny may someway politically corrupt the minds of PR’s residents.
“Every single greenback that I invested in music is the results of entrepreneurship, working onerous with my household and buddies, taking dangers that others wouldn’t take,” says Jiménez-Dan, strongly refuting the rumor that his startup funds for Rimas have been amassed throughout his time in authorities.
Jiménez-Dan, who says he labored for the Chávez authorities for only one yr (2006-2007), provides: “I’m not and by no means have been a political actor. I’m not a member of any political celebration in Venezuela – not left, not proper. I by no means had any involvement within the coup d’état with Chávez.”
Jiménez-Dan confirms that in 2023, he bought his 60% stake in Rimas’ label and expertise administration agency – Rimas Entertainment – to a 3rd celebration, although contractual restrictions stop him from revealing the client’s id. (MBW sources are adamant it was Sony Music/The Orchard, in a deal that finally led to Noah Assad, alongside Bad Bunny, taking majority management of the corporate.)
However, Jiménez-Dan continues to personal 60% of Rimas Publishing, an unbiased publishing firm, the place he sees thrilling alternatives forward. (Rimas Publishing, led by Emilio Morales as Managing Director, is dwelling to 3 subsidiary publishers – RSM, Risama, and Megasongs – and counts on its roster expertise reminiscent of Bad Bunny, Eladio Carrión, Subelo NEO, and Mora.)
“You based Music Business Worldwide in 2015, and I based Rimas in 2014,” says Jiménez-Dan. “You can perceive how onerous it’s to combat everybody who doesn’t imagine in you.
“So I really feel that for the primary time, with you, I can clarify how Rimas was born…”
There’s not a complete lot concerning the origins of Rimas on-line, except for a few Spanish language items and two articles IN BILLBOARD, which knowledgeable my latest column. Where in your view has a few of the reporting strayed from the trail?
The historical past of Rimas is likely one of the most superb, unbelievable histories about entrepreneurship, and fortuitously, it has a really pleased ending. Unfortunately, there was numerous misunderstanding, and I’ve by no means discovered the appropriate channel to discuss that.
During our negotiations [with Rimas Entertainment’s majority-buyer in 2023], out of the blue, some journalists from Billboard approached me with a really robust and hostile line [of questioning]. I didn’t really feel comfy doing an interview, so all my phrases have been transmitted by way of my legal professionals in LA.
Despite providing them paperwork with very onerous information, the end result was what I had anticipated from the very starting — a really slanted focus within the reporting.
One persistent story is that you simply made a $2 million startup funding in Rimas when it launched in 2014, and largely let others run the corporate.
This is likely one of the worst [mistruths] that individuals inform about Rimas. It originates from a trial involving my former enterprise affiliate and his ex-partner, and the media [picked it up from there]. She put within the authorized paperwork some tales she had heard [about Jiménez-Dan’s initial level of investment]. This is the one supply of this info; it’s completely false.
I by no means gave anybody else a verify for $2 million, or perhaps a small sum of money, to create Rimas. I used my bank cards; I mortgaged one property that I had in Florida. I paid for a whole lot of lunches with radio promoters and video producers. I used to be there with my child Ricardo, going to Best Buy and the ironmongery store to purchase issues to repair up the recording studios.
“Launching and constructing Rimas was numerous effort. This concept of me being this man who purchased in a suitcase with $2 million, and gave it to somebody – that is completely false.”
I deserted my household for weeks, ready up till dawn in recording studios for one of many first Rimas artists to signal an settlement with us.
Launching and constructing Rimas was numerous effort. This concept of me being this man who purchased in a suitcase with $2 million, and gave it to somebody – that is completely false.
I used to be the one shareholder of Rimas from 2014 to 2018. I used to be the 100% proprietor for 4 years.
Is it true that Rimas is an acronym in your youngsters’s names?
Absolutely. The identify is a phrase recreation: “Rimas” means “rhymes” in Spanish, but it surely’s additionally an acronym of the names of my three children: Ricardo, Marianna, and Sophya. Almost all my ventures have, indirectly, the names of my household. This is what strikes me – my household – and they’re concerned in all my tasks.
In 2014, I used to be managing artists in Venezuela, and they needed to make music in Puerto Rico. We began visiting studios in San Juan, and I noticed a land of alternatives, however a [local music] trade that was in a really unhealthy second. If you keep in mind, 2014 was the worst yr within the music trade from the Nineteen Eighties to as we speak, with very low income.
The main labels dominated the trade, and the format was altering — CDs have been sunsetting, and streaming was beginning.
We discovered this area in San Juan and noticed a chance [to invest in creating recording facilities and a record label]. I couldn’t discover a recording studio with worldwide high quality [in the region] to do one thing superb.
When did Noah Assad enter the image?
I’ve nice respect and appreciation for Noah. I’m grateful for all of the issues we constructed along with the remainder of the group.
Noah was an worker of my firm even earlier than we created Rimas. He was employed as a supervisor of one of many artists I managed at the moment.
I used to be concerned in hospitality, meals, and different industries by way of my holding firm, Risamar Business Group. I wanted assist, and I noticed in Noah an individual with expertise who was additionally linked in Puerto Rico. When I met him, he was organizing some native events and working with a few producers who labored with one in all our artists.
“I’ve nice respect and appreciation for Noah… I supplied him 40% of the shares within the firm… I’ve no regrets about that.”
When Rimas was created, Noah continued to be an worker — a superb one.
Four years later, I supplied him 40% of the shares within the firm, with the dedication that I wanted him extra concerned in day-to-day operations. It’s pure for founders to take the subsequent step and give folks alternatives. I’ve no regrets about that.
Noah turned completely central to Bad Bunny’s growth and success.
Almost from the start, Noah was very shut with Benito. He is the key supervisor in his profession – that is plain.
I’ve nothing however respect and appreciation for him and his household, and for his expertise in dealing with the inventive aspect.
One suggestion in BILLBOARD’S REPORTING was that you simply by no means really met Bad Bunny. Is that true?
No, it’s completely false. I met Benito whereas we have been in Puerto Rico. I used to be very non-public and reserved, however Puerto Rico is 100 by 35 miles – it’s a small island.
Probably in 2016, we have been at an occasion in Mayagüez with [artists] Jowell and Randy, and different artists who have been within the firm at the moment. Eladio Carrión was with us there too.
“I keep in mind Eladio being invited to sing at a really tiny bar, and he mentioned, ‘This is my pal Benito.’”
I keep in mind Eladio being invited to sing at a really tiny bar, and he mentioned, “This is my pal Benito.” Benito began singing Diles, one of many first songs he launched. When we noticed that spark in Benito and the response of the folks, we noticed that this was going to be nice.
During a number of events, I used to be alongside [Bad Bunny] at music occasions, Billboard conferences, even serving to him with private issues.
But I’ve a philosophy: executives within the music trade typically really feel the appropriate to manage each single side of an artist. This unbiased enterprise took a special strategy – inventive freedom was key within the growth of Rimas.
By 2017, Rimas was attracting severe consideration from main gamers. What made you determine to remain unbiased at the moment?
In 2017, many corporations approached us. Atlantic Records began working with us, reviewing our monetary paperwork, and we have been concerned in negotiations with Interscope/Universal in Los Angeles too. I needed to fly there – my group, together with Noah, was the face of these negotiations.
The identical factor occurred with Scooter Braun.
Scooter was discussing with us the potential acquisition of the corporate. At that point, he was working with Ariana Grande and Justin Bieber, and had a strong presence in LA.
I believed we have been able to take the subsequent step, however in the end we determined to keep up our independence.
What particularly made you flip down these presents in 2017?
We had constructed one thing particular with our philosophy of inventive freedom.
At that point, the foremost labels, even with all their assets, nonetheless needed to manage each single side of the artist – how they costume, what producers they work with, the inventive course.
“We weren’t prepared to surrender our freedom, even for the assets these corporations may provide.”
We have been unbiased and actually making an attempt to do one thing out of the field. I’m not the man making photos [of myself] or paying for billboards; I feel the true ‘energy gamers’ are the artists and the inventive spirit in them. The inventive course of needed to be protected against the borders that the majors put on artists.
By 2017, we had confirmed that this strategy may work, so why change it? We weren’t prepared to surrender that freedom, even for the assets these corporations may provide.
So what modified by 2023 that made you determine to promote your stake in Rimas Entertainment?
I’ve contractual restrictions about what I can say, however I can affirm that I bought my 60% share to a 3rd celebration [in 2023]. It was time for the corporate to maneuver to the subsequent step.
I imagine in the entire skilled employees and what we had constructed throughout all these years; it wasn’t just one artist, it was agreements with many artists, catalog, procedures, employees, and a popularity and community.
2023 was an ideal yr after the pandemic. Music was steadily rising, particularly Latin music. I noticed the chance, not just for me and my household after years of working very onerous, but additionally for the corporate to get moved to a stage that I most likely couldn’t obtain alone, as a result of others have extra assets and capability.
Are you proud of the concept of Noah now being answerable for the corporate?
Totally, completely. I’m pleased for a number of causes.
For one factor, I nonetheless management 60% of Rimas Publishing, which excites me probably the most due to the authorship aspect of the enterprise.
I used to say I didn’t need to be on the billboards or on the Grammys – I like to take pleasure in [the music business] from the couch in my home with my spouse and children when a few of the artists within the firm are acknowledged with a prize.
It’s the identical factor with this. I really like Rimas being extra and extra profitable. Every single new achievement of Rimas is a cause for me to be pleased and grateful.
The DNA, the identify of my children, will all the time be within the firm.
Rimas’s partnership with The Orchard has been essential to Bad Bunny’s world success. You selected to go along with their companies mannequin moderately than a standard main label deal; that was fairly trailblazing on the time.
When streaming began, there was no extra room for opacity within the music enterprise. The numbers are the numbers. I’m a man from know-how – I come from methods engineering – and I mentioned, “This is the brand new panorama. You can’t conceal the reality anymore.”
At that point, the music trade was stuffed with opacity. Transparency was a uncommon commodity. I noticed it when preventing to discover a place for a track on the radio or preventing to debate an settlement with a label firm — an absence of transparency, hidden prices, hidden issues. Everything was ‘at the hours of darkness’.
I really feel Rimas is a part of a motion that’s altering music perpetually. The [availability of] spine companies – like distribution and know-how – may open the way in which for brand spanking new gamers, unbiased gamers, that might change the panorama of how the music trade operates.
The Orchard has achieved an ideal job with Rimas and Bad Bunny globally. That partnership has proven what’s doable once you mix unbiased entrepreneurship with major-level infrastructure.
Yes, and it proved that effectivity and onerous work matter greater than the tips. It’s opening numerous doorways for brand spanking new alternatives for different [labels] and artists.
I would like to handle the political controversy surrounding your background. A Puerto Rican politician tried to hyperlink your historical past with Hugo Chávez’s authorities to Bad Bunny and his affect on the Puerto Rican folks. Can you set the document straight?
For about one yr from 2006 to 2007, I served as Vice Minister of Legal Certainty in my nation, Venezuela.
I used to be a lawyer and a technician, with concepts to enhance establishments. I’ve no regrets. I labored for a yr making an attempt to enhance entry to justice and transparency – the identical issues we’re preventing for now in music – and strengthen the rule of regulation.
I turned very annoyed. I noticed [the system] was unattainable to alter from inside, and I resigned from my place. I used to be by no means in an administrative or financial place dealing with cash. I used to be in institutional administration on the technical aspect of presidency.
“I’m not and by no means have been a political actor.”
Every single greenback that I invested in music is the results of entrepreneurship, working onerous with my household and buddies, taking dangers that others wouldn’t take.
I’m not and by no means have been a political actor. I’m not a member of any political celebration in Venezuela – not left, not proper. I used to be by no means concerned within the coup d’état with Chávez.
[Editor’s note: Hugo Chávez served as President of Venezuela from 1999 through to his death in 2013 – the longest-serving national President in the history of the Americas. Despite being elected three times, he is widely seen as having consolidated power by weakening checks and balances on the executive.]
The folks round me – my household, buddies, the folks associated to me by way of the companies I’ve constructed – know who I’m and the place we come from.
Billboard reported that ‘friction’ exists between you and Noah as we speak. How would you characterize your relationship with him?
After you construct one thing as nice as we did, you’ll be able to have area for nice issues like appreciation, respect, and thankfulness, whereas not all the time needing to agree on every part. The factor is how you discover elevated, civilized methods to debate and discover widespread floor.
Of course, we are able to have a few disagreements, however the firm is working very effectively.
We [conduct ourselves] by way of the procedures that the working agreements set up. If we require a gathering, now we have a gathering.
Let’s end on a optimistic notice: Rimas Publishing. You appear very enthusiastic about this. Why are you betting on the publishing aspect of the enterprise?
Rimas Publishing is a jewel. It has constructed an ideal popularity. I’m very pleased with the extremely skilled and moral group now we have in place.
Integrity, transparency, and innovation are the pillars of Rimas Publishing as we speak. The group is writing one of the stunning pages in music publishing historical past.
Since 2023, we’ve grown from 90 to 160 artists, and counting.
What excites you about the way forward for music publishing particularly?
The availability of data and information is altering the trade. Transparency will rule, and there shall be no room for the hidden tips of the previous.
In an trade with an absence of transparency, once you discover somebody to let you know the reality, present you the numbers, when you’ll be able to focus on overtly the settlement dimension and income aspect – it’s like a domino impact.
“Benito and Latin music has opened the potential of the unknown.”
That’s what’s occurred with Benito and Latin music – it has opened the potential of the unknown.
Tomorrow, there shall be a man from Mozambique, Guinea, or New Zealand who makes use of an instrument, creates melodies, and delivers a punch line… his music may very well be world inside two hours.
I’m pleased to have been a part of this journey, however no less than on the [songwriter] aspect, I need to be a part of the music that’s occurring now.
Any remaining ideas on the Rimas legacy?
Rimas represents every part Puerto Rico can obtain. Since I left Venezuela, Puerto Rico has grow to be essential to me. It’s the place I developed one in all my most necessary companies, the place Rimas grew, and the place I discovered goal.
If I went again 10 years, I most likely would have achieved the identical factor.
My children’ DNA will all the time be within the firm, and I’m grateful for that journey. I’m pleased with it.Music Business Worldwide
