Protagonistas De La Musica was a Spanish reality television program taped in Miami, where various participants competed to win a recording contract with Sony Records. It aired from October 2002 to January 2003. It is unknown whether a second version of the show will air in late 2003.
The show pitted several young vocalists from various Latin-American countries against each other. They were sealed inside a studio living quarters and filmed 24 hours a day. An edited version of their daily activities was broadcast each night. They spent their days attending various performance classes, and every Wednesday performed a song in the weekly prueba de talento. The loser of the prueba was a candidate for dismissal from the household, and the contestants voted to select a second candidate. The public was then asked to choose one of the two candidates to be sent home from the studio. Fourteen original protagonistas were thus whittled down to four finalistas.
The winners were the Cuban Barbara Higuera and the Dominican Miguel Angel Guzman.
The show was immensely popular among young Latinos, but controversial among the older audience.
The show was hosted by Puerto Rican singer Carlos Ponce.
Dicen que en un pueblo de Puerto Rico un alcalde puso a disposición de los ciudadanos las líneas telefónicas delas oficinas dela policía y los bomberos para que llamaran a votar por Alexis Ramos, el "protagonistadela música" boricua.
Pocos programas dela televisión hispana en Estados Unidos han logrado desatar emociones dela forma en que éste lo hizo: tanto en la pantalla como frente a ella, porque los productores lograron, quizás sin proponérselo, sacar lo mejor y también lo peor dela esencia humana de los concursantes y dela audiencia.
La trama se desarrolló tan, pero tan interesantemente, que ni al mejor de los guionistas se le hubieran ocurrido algunas delas cosas que aquí pasaron".