In the midst of Hanukkah, and only a week or so before the solstice, Christmas, and Kwanzaa, it's prime time for holiday music. No sooner do I post about a free track than the folks at Jitterbug's let me know about their holiday playlist. It's a good one and even better, it's a free one, available for downloading or streaming. Music from The Hipwaders, Brady Rymer, Didi Pop, Gustafer Yellowgold, Princess Katie & Racer Steve, Rock Daddy Rock, and David Tobocman. Good stuff (I've already talked about a few songs on the list), downloadable here and in a few cases, nowhere else.
Licensing Kids Music, Italian Division
We occasionally cover the use of kids music for commercial purposes, from Dan Zanes' dalliance with Wal-Mart and Coke to Kira Willey's "Colors" being used in an ad for Dell Computers. Plenty of other folks have had their kids music licensed for other purposes -- Justin Roberts, the Jellydots, for example.
Here is the most unlikely use I've seen this year. Didi Pop recently had "Feed the Pet" from her self-titled debut used for... a line of kids wear from an Italian fashion house. That's right... Laura Biagiotti licensed the use of the tune for their line of dolls. (To hear it, just go to the website, and after clicking on English -- or "Italian" if you're bilingual -- click on Laura Biagiotti DOLLS.) I wouldn't exactly put "get music licensed by an Italian fashion house" on your kids' music to-do list, but, hey, it happens...