Marti Cuevas

Marti Cuevas has enjoyed a diverse and exciting career during her nearly four decades in the music business. Beginning as a Saxophone/flute player and composer, Cuevas spent a decade playing Jazz and Latin music in Europe; highlights from this period include opening for artists such as Miles Davis and Joe Henderson and accompanying Salsa legends Cheo Feliciano and Azuquita.

Cuevas relocated to NYC in the late 80’s pursuing a life-long dream of becoming part of the fabric of the Jazz and Latin music Mecca. However, a mother of two small children, Cuevas’ search for stable employment led her to the offices of famed music business attorney William Krasilovsky. Marti spent nearly five years with Krasilovsky.

In 1990, Marti was ‘poached’ by two of Krasilovsky’s clients to take on all business affairs duties for J&N Records/J&N Publishing. Marrying her artistic background with music business acumen, Marti quickly carved out a special niche for herself. With a unique skillset, and as an indie where one must be a “jack of all trades and master of all,” Marti (under the auspices of Mr. Krasilovsky), negotiated and drafted contracts in English and Spanish, set up J & N’s royalty accounting systems for publishing, was a trouble shooter, fostering close relationships with writers and artists. Starting with only a few musical works and a handful of artists, J & N developed into one of the most important tropical music companies in US history; currently, J & N boasts an incredible catalog of classic, vintage sound recordings and musical compositions – salsa, merengue, bachata, son and urban. Marti’s relationship with J&N continues to this day as administrator of the J & N Catalog via her company Mayimba Music.

Concurrently, Marti played with many of the top merengue bands during the 90s – (frequently performing music she was familiar with from her publishing duties!), culminating with an opportunity to record Baritone for one of her idols, Juan Luis Guerra, on the Perico Ripiao hit, “La cosquillita.”

In 1999 Marti founded Mayimba Music, initially focused on providing label and publishing administration services to independent companies, authors and artists. Highlights from this period include her long relationship as GM for Premium Latin Music and its hit international Bachata group, Aventura. For 10 years Mayimba administered Romeo Santos’ catalogue, until he signed with a Universal. To this day, Marti continues to be an integral part of his team.

Mayimba Music won industry accolades at ASCAP as Latin Indie-Publisher honors in 2013, 2014, and 2015 alongside Billboard Latin Indie Publisher of the year awards in 2015 and 2016. Mayimba music has entered its third decade in the business with new clients including Reggaeton/Latin Hip-Hop pioneer Tego Calderon, Merengue Rockstar Toño Rosario, and Latin Trap originator Messiah. In addition, Mayimba represents iconic Dominican singer-songwriters, including Manuel Varet Martes P/k/a Vakero, Enrique Feliz, and many others.