The “Kidz Bop” kids, as they’re known, cover 16 songs, including Jennifer Lopez’s “On the Floor,” Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep” and Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way.” The five main singers on “Kidz Bop 20" were found through a nationwide casting. Its “American Idol"-esque Kidz Star USA singing competition, started last year, yielded 35,000 contestants, and in August, the imprint will begin publishing books. Since launching a moderated, Facebook-style social networking site two years ago, 1 million tween members have signed up. “I was going to a lot of birthday parties, and there just didn’t seem to be much music for kids,” said Chenfeld, whose children were 5, 7 and 9 at the time he started “Kidz Bop” with Craig Balsam in the same New York production studio as their Razor & Tie record label.Įleven million records later, “Kidz Bop’s” increasing CD sales in an otherwise declining market have proved its kid-safe, parent-approved concept - a concept it’s successfully applying to other massive and mainstream media properties. It was Chenfeld’s own reticence at playing Eminem and 50 Cent for his elementary schoolers that inspired the discs. Curated for content, “Kidz Bop” CDs hit a sweet spot, providing timely, inoffensive pop songs that are a quick and easy substitute for live, commercial radio. Sales are up 39% over the last two years.ĭesigned “for kids who want to listen to pop songs and parents who may not want them to,” according to co-creator Cliff Chenfeld, “Kidz Bop” is a sort of safe haven for music fans that fills the void between clap-your-hands preschool faves like Dan Zanes and the hyper-sexualized, drug-addled and increasingly profane lyricism of modern pop better suited to older audiences. In the midst of a shaky economy at a time of decreasing overall music sales, “Kidz Bop” is defying the market. “Kidz Bop 18" and “19" have sold 720,000 copies combined in the last year.
#Time up kidz series#
Since 2001, when the series started, “Kidz Bop” has racked up 12 top-10 albums, including the last two discs. Age appropriateness was the founding concept of “Kidz Bop” - a decade-old compilation series that has become something of a cultural juggernaut over the last decade, hiring tween-age singers to belt out the latest chart toppers from Katy Perry, Britney Spears and other artists and deliver them to the ears of listeners while the originals are still getting FM airplay. The song is played ad nauseam on pop radio.īut it won’t appear on “Kidz Bop 20,” the latest compilation of current mega hits covered by kid singers in the bestselling CD series. Few modern songs are more disturbing to a mom than Rihanna’s raunchy hit, “S&M” - especially when it’s sung out loud by an 8-year-old.