Trend: Baby Rock

Musicians, labels and clubs are specializing on music and concerts for the youngsters of the “hip” generation.

Trend Description
Gone are the times where there was music for kids and music for adults. More and more parents in their 30s and 40s want to enjoy the music together with their kids. Labels and Musicians actually adapt real rock classics for child-friendly albums or compose some kind of cool and funny kid rock, which parents can enjoy over and over again. On top of that there are also concerts and events where little children and their caregivers can start enjoying their family rock career together.
Also see our trend Baby Disco.

Cases:

Kidsapalooza
Kidsapalooza is the family-friendly addition of the Chicago-based rock festival Lollapalooza, which attracted a crowd of 160.000 this year up from 2000 in the first year, 2005. Kids could play drums, burn rap CDs with professional DJs or attend a hip-hop workshop. Patti Smith and Perry Farrell, the founder of Lollapalooza performed for the little ones. According to Farrell, Kidsapalooza is not supposed to be “all ‘paint your face’ or ‘hang on to a balloon’” but “one giant art piece.”

Joe’s Pub: Go Baby Go
Featuring “Go Baby Go” a new release by Verve, Joe’s Pub invited the whole family to two special matinee performances. Go Baby Go was produced by Andy Blackman Hurwitz and features jazz interpretations of classic children’s songs, performed by some of the hottest jazz musicians. The idea of the series is to introduce children to different genres – child friendly but without being dumb. “It is real music played by real musicians”, claims the website of Joe’s Pub.

Rockabye Baby!
Rockabye Baby! is one of many labels which put out children’s records, and is probably the most specialized one. The concept is to ‘transform timeless rock songs into beautiful instrumental lullabies”. There are lullaby renditions of Radiohead, Björk, The Ramones, Cold Play, Pink Floyd, Nirvana, The Cure, Led Zeppelin and even Metallica, using sweet and soft glockenspiel sounds and vibraphone sounds. Another successful kid’s label is “Little Monster Records”. Their Beatles tribute “Alltogether now” was on of the top sellers at Barnes & Nobles this year.

Rock Stars for Kids
Examples for kid-specialized rock stars are Dan Zanes, who even had a partnership with Starbucks for his record “Catch That Train!” or Laurie Berkner. Their mission is to make music which can be enjoyed by kids and grownups together. The songs are silly, funny and rock. Zanes markets his music as “21st century all ages family music”. Laurie Berkner started out as a preschool music teacher and is now the rock star of the children TV channel Noggin and cofounder of the record label Two Tomatoes.

Trend Impact:
Sesame Street and Baby Einstein might have started the idea of kid’s music as a social connection between parents and their kids, but now more and more labels, musicians and festival organizer are taking this idea a step further. The market for records and events that children and even babies can actually enjoy together with their adults is huge. Today’s busy parents want to spend a lot of quality time with their children, they sometimes feel more like the “big brothers or sister” who want to show the little ones, what they consider cool. First marketing-partnerships are made, an example being Dan Zanes and Starbucks.

Links

Kidsapalooza

Joe’s Pub: Go Baby Go

Rockabye Baby!

Little Monster Records

Dan Zanes

Laurie Berkner: Two Tomatoes

Rate this post:

No rating yet