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Next Tuesday sees the release of a Motown compilation. Big deal–there are approximately 875,000 Motown compilations. But Motown for Kids promises to be a little different.
OK, it isn’t different at all: all 14 of its songs are proven warhorses. Nevertheless, Universal has seen the Kidz Bop series and raised the ante: “Finally there’s a series made for children that adults will love!” goes one tag line. Here’s another: “Introduce your kids to the classic Motown hits with Motown for Kids, a new CD in a series from Universal Music Family developed specifically to entertain kids and not drive parents crazy. Motown for Kids features original songs from their original artists. No annoying cover songs!” We know they’re just covering their markets where they can–and with kids’ albums one of the few places sales are booming, why not?–but it’s kind of sad to see some of the greatest music ever made reduced to a tolerable variation on third-grade classes chirping “4 Minutes.”
Motown for Kids [Amazon]
Believe me, I’m no fan of KidzBop. I’ve listened to the album above (it’s perfect for my don’t-listen-to-too-much-music wife) and would much rather do so than KidzBop. But this’ll sell, like, 1% of the KidzBop albums.
Also, I have long since coined Shepherd’s First Law of Kids Music Promotion: Music explicitly promoted as “kids music parents will love” will be hated by parents. Though this might test the theory.
@SAShepherd: haha I was counting down till you commented
@Michaelangelo Matos: Hey, I’m just waiting until Idolator realizes that it needs to stop worrying about the 13-year-olds and start worrying about the 3-year-olds.
But I’m staying away from the Jonas Brothers story, for obvious reasons.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t there an Elvis Sings for Kids released when the man was still alive? Kind of a tangent, but that would have been way before Kidz Bopzzz.
@SAShepherd: Because 3 year olds have better taste than the 13 year olds?
anywhat, as a corollary to SFLKMP: Music promoted as ‘kids music parents will love’ will probably also be hated by the kids.
Disney still wins in this area…Dan Zanes & They Might Be Giants original kids’ albums are great…the only very good one they don’t own is Laurie Berkner.
Otherwise, I can make my own mixtapes for my daughter, thank you very much.