The Stuff of Kids Music

I have, in the past, babbled on regarding the need for artists to improve their album art and overall packaging. Why? Because unlike many other genres of music, children's music is still very much reliant on physical modes of distribution and, as a result, the physical products counts, and far more than just about any genre. Children's music publicist/all-around-good-person Beth Blenz Clucas' recent newsletter offers the thoughts of some of her clients on this very issue. It's worth a read, and not just because it agrees with my world view. There are some very good reasons given for why actual CDs won't go away, but one of my favorite has to do with cassettes. A couple people make the comment that cassettes, which I would guess many of us haven't purchased a cassette since, oh, buying that Erasure "A Little Respect" cassingle, took forever to go away in the kids' music industry. It's a technologically lagging genre. That does not indicate the dominance of downloads any time soon. Frankly, because the parents are buying this music, not their 3-year-olds, and because the parents who are interested in this music grew up in a time before downloading, we're still comfortable with the physical product. Don't get me wrong, we still get music from iTunes and eMusic and elsewhere, but we like the physical product, too. We like to give the physical product to friends when they're having kids, and to the kids themselves at the birthday party. Face it, it's hard to wrap a download. I realize that eventually CDs will go away even in the kids' music genre, but it won't really start taking hold until our 6- and 10-year-olds, who will have grown up in a downloading world, become parents themselves. And even then, their parents will still give their grandkids physical CDs. (For whatever it's worth, here are more of my thoughts on 21st century kids music.)

21st Century Kids Music and Record Companies

I've been thinking for some time about whether kids music can co-exist peacefully -- or even prosper -- with record companies. David Bryne's presentation "Record Companies: Who Needs Them?" (first presented in Montreal last fall, which really started my thinking about this, and at SXSW Thursday) is a fairly stinging indictment of the current record company model. So allow me to be snark-free for a little bit -- how relevant are his arguments to this particular segment of the music industry? Let me start out by outlining how the current record company model fails even more spectacularly with the artists we cover here.

New Year's Resolutions: 2007

I've only occasionally made New Year's resolutions, since there's little about going from December 31 to January 1 that compels me to do resolutions. But, hey, as a tired trope for unsolicited advice, it works great! So here are a few New Year's resolutions for every one else in the kids music world except me. (OK, me, too.) 1. The resurgence of kids music is no longer news. When a trend is so prevalent it gets its own acronym (YAKMA - Yet Another Kids Music Article), it's jumped the shark. So I'd like members of the press to stop writing articles along the lines of, "Have you heard? There are a bunch of new kids musicians. [Insert quotation from Dan Zanes.]" You have until February 2007, the one-year anniversary of the Laurie Berkner DVD release. After that, please come up with a new angle. 2. Stop the madness: Enough with the dissing. Artists: Please, please, please stop defining yourselves by who you're not. OK, you're not Barney, the Wiggles, or Raffi. That tells me nothing except you're not purple, dinosaurs, color-coded, or the man who single-handedly created the kids music section in your local record/bookstore. At the very least, tell me who else you sound like -- Fountains of Wayne? Stevie Wonder? Sabbath? 3. "Have you heard? There's kids music entire families can enjoy!" Yes. Yes we have. And while you're at it, dear, beloved kids musicians and members of the observing press, the idea that "music that the whole family can enjoy" is somehow rare has been pretty much obliterated (if indeed it ever was true). I know that it's marketing hoo-hah, but at this point, I'm close to believing that the presence of that phrase (particularly on press releases) is an indicator that it's not one of those many albums that will be of much interest to parent or child or both. 4. Album art still matters. I've harped on this before, but I'm still amazed at how many kids music albums are completely done a disservice by their covers, bad enough to make me put them at the bottom of my to-listen pile. Perhaps ten years from now, when the college students of the Napster era become parents themselves, will kids music join a lot of other music in being a downloaded medium. But until then, most parents and kids will enjoy their music through a physical medium and nothing says "I'm not giving that as a gift" like something that looks like, well, what I could put together. Please take a little time and find someone to put a little thought into the album packaging. See Lunch Money or Frances England for examples of how to do it. 5. Spend less time listening to recorded music and more time listening to live music. No matter where you live, whether you can hear kids musicians every weekend or once a year, go out and hear music with your family. Doesn't have to be kids' music -- classical, folk, whatever. If it involves dancing on the part of the participants so much the better. 6. Spend less time listening to recorded music and more time playing music. I enjoy discovering all these artists and revisiting old favorites with my family. But I rarely derive more pleasure from those than I do plunking out a tune on the piano, or violin, or ukelele while my family warbles along and shakes whatever rhythmic item they have handy. I doubt my kids will remember of these great albums. I hope they remember singing "Pay Me My Money Down" in the living room. Happy 2007, folks, I hope it's great.

Too Cool For Pre-School?

One of the comments I really liked from the Dan Zanes interview was the following:
As long as you know that it might feel a little funny at first, the main thing is that everybody throw themselves into it in any way they can and that they shed their inhibitions. That's easier said than done, but the reason I love being in the world of new parents is because they're really doing that every day. They're doing things they've never done before every day, they're in semi-embarrassing situations...
Which makes the attitude of Jon Glaser in this New York Times article a little depressing. If you're not willing to buy the soundtrack for Garfield: The Movie to get a song you really like (not your kid, you) because you're afraid of how it might look in the future, you've got a long parenthood ahead of you. (Yes, I realize attitudes are exaggerated for comic effect, but still.) Chris Ott's article for the Village Voice at least is honest about his attempt to influence his kid's musical tastes. He realizes that he's "programming his kid," but at least he seems not to be doing it because it's cool, but because he likes the music. (And at least he recognizes that "Puff the Magic Dragon" will play a role in his kid's musical experience, too.)

Are The Terrible Twos Better Than the Wiggles?

An interesting discussion over at (sm)all ages about the Terrible Twos and the Wiggles, the closest thing to a KIDS MUSIC BLOGGERS FITE! I've seen in some time. It's worth reading. In any case, the album, which is pretty awesome, is going to be re-released on Kid Rhino at the end of January. But you can order it now from CDBaby, and here's the cool part -- rather than listening to the same two songs sampled at the Terrible Twos' website over and over, the CDBaby page has nice more-than-30-second samples of all the songs. (As for my take on the debate, I agree with Eric that it's just poor form for a musician to slag on another musician. Spend time talking about what makes your music yours, not defining it by what it's not. But I think Jeff's close to the mark when he talks about the commercialization aspect. Combine that with the narrow distribution channels of most kids music, and it's no wonder that many parents get tired of the Wiggles... it's because it's the only game in town, the only thing you see as you're tooling around Target with your kids. There's a lot of great music out there -- it's one of the reasons I've been writing about kids music for five years now -- but it takes work to find it, and most families know that time can be a scarce resource.)

Frequently Asked Questions, or, What Is This Place?

Hey! I decided that after 4 1/2 years I should update this thing. To describe this as "Frequently Asked Questions" would be less than the truth -- few of these questions have been asked, let alone frequently. They are, however, all questions, and 1 out of 3 is pretty good (if, you're, uh, a hitter in baseball). Who are you? I'm Stefan Shepherd, married father of two kids, ages (as of May 2011) 9 and 5. I live in Phoenix, Arizona. I currently have about $4 in overdue library fines. (Yes, I updated my outstanding balance for my library fines.) Who died and made you the Greil Marcus of kids and family music? What qualifications do you have? Kinda confrontational, aren't you? Well, I have a few fancy letters after my name, but none of them have anything to do with music or kids and families, let alone music for kids and families. But I'm 1) a parent, 2) a big music fan, and 3) able to put together a complete sentence, sometimes even stringing a few sentences together into a paragraph. Oh, and I'm willing to listen to all this music, separate the wheat from the chaff, and write about it. You're free to start your own website (or comment here) should you disagree with me. Aaaaand, I've been doing this for close to 7 years now. So stop hassling me. So how much kids' music do you listen to in, say, a year? I'd guess that over the past year I've listened to at least 300 different CDs. I have no way of proving this, but I'd be surprised if there were a dozen people in America that have listened to as many different kids and family CDs as I have in the past year. My [however-many-years]-year-old child listens to all the same music I do, and they love it. Shouldn't you be playing your favorite music for your kids instead of listening to this pap? I think you should be playing music that you really enjoy with your kids. Having said that, what's wrong with also playing music that might be targeted specifically at your child's age, either musically or lyrically? To make a literature analogy -- even if you read John Updike to your kids (which I think you'll agree is probably not the wisest of parental choices), don't you think they might appreciate a nice Mo Willems or "Junie B. Jones" book sometimes, too? And besides, there's lots of fabulous music that's being made in this genre right now -- it'd be a shame if you missed it just because you chose to ignore it. You aging indie hipsters are all alike -- trying to impose your musical tastes on your kids. Why??? You're, uh, like the exact opposite of the questioner above. (You've also never met me, because those who have would never characterize me as an "aging hipster," O Vague Questioner I've Totally Made Up For the Purpose Of This Post.) I've been a parent long enough to know that imposing cultural taste on kids is a fool's errand. All you can do is expose your kids to music you love and music of all different genres reflecting all sorts of experiences. And if, in the end, they decide to listen to [insert the name of the band you spent many a college night at the bars mocking then singing along to, karaoke-style], that's OK, too. Who else thinks you know what you're talking about? NPR's All Things Considered, for whom I review kids music occasionally SXSW EMP Pop Conference Wall Street Journal (twice) Kindiefest (multiple appearances) Sirius-XM's Kids Place Live Arizona Republic, Phoenix New Times (twice), Raising Arizona Kids Other assorted papers and website (see here for a semi-complete listing) My mom Also, I'm the founder of the Fids and Kamily Awards, which I'm pretty proud of. I like the cut of your jib, sir, and would be interested in having you write something for my fabulous website/newspaper/inflight magazine. Are you interested in such an opportunity? Possibly. I've written for Wired , Real Simple, Education.com, and done freelance work for the iTunes store. I wrote for the Phoenix New Times. Brief reviews and blurbs of mine appear at the excellent DC-area venue Jammin' Java. I wrote liner notes for Sarah Lee Guthrie's Smithsonian Folkways album Go Waggaloo. So, yeah, I've written stuff for others in the past and would be interested in doing so again. Maybe. E-mail me (zooglobble AT earthlink DOT net) and we can talk... How about booking shows? Do you do that? Because I really need you to book a show for me. Possibly. I've booked shows on my own (e.g., this one), as well as a secular series for my church. I currently book a series at the Children's Museum of Phoenix. Other venues may come online at some point. So, yeah, I'm always interested in helping to spread great live music to new places. If you're looking for someone to put together a kids music series or festival stage (or you're an artist looking to play a show), e-mail me (zooglobble AT earthlink DOT net) and we can talk. I have the world's most awesome CD for kids and families, and I'm desperate to have you hear it and review it. How can I go about doing so? Find out more about submitting albums for review here. Do you know where I can buy the Hoodwinked soundtrack for something short of a developing nation's GDP? I used to (mymusic.com), but sadly even that supply has dried up. I only wish I knew why the soundtrack went out of print. You are now forced to try eBay or other sites, for which you'll probably have to pay $50 or more... (This actually was one of the few questions on here that I was asked, frequently. The soundtrack is now freely available -- and the movie 5+ years old -- so I never get that question anymore. I keep it here to remind me of those heady days.) The name "Zooglobble." What's up with that? Google "Nobody Understands Me" and "Sandra Boynton." That'll get you most of the way there.