Kindiefest 2010: Own Your [Stuff]

I've launched into a series of posts focusing on the individual artists who showcased at the 2010 edition of Kindiefest, but I thought a few words about what I took away from the conference would be appropriate before getting too far down that path.

If the thread running through last year's conference was that of community, the thread running through this year's conference was that of hard work and committing to the craft of making music for kids and families.

Or, to put it another way, committing to owning your stuff.

Except when we (or at least I) talked about it this weekend, we used an earthier word in place of (but close to) "stuff" that I don't feel comfortable using on the intrawebs. And we (or at least I) used that phrase a lot.

Danny and Sarah and Nori from The Not-Its walking around in their band trademark black and pink outfits? Owning their stuff. Recess Monkey putting together sweet little videos on the cheap? Owning their stuff. Justin Roberts playing a set so awesome that at least a couple other performing artists said that it inspired them to improve their own game and making at least one audience member literally cry? Completely and totally owning his stuff.

As I suggest above, that commitment requires time and attention to detail. The panels this year were, with the exception of my Old School Meets New School panel, technically oriented. And what I saw of the panels suggested that people can't do this lackadaiscally. The panel on videos moderated by Michael Rachap of Readeez brought to life the truism that when it comes to making videos good, fast, and cheap, you can only pick two of them (and nobody suggested dropping "good"). Though I didn't see all of the production panel, what I heard suggested that the producer wasn't necessarily going to make your life easier. Better, hopefully, but you'd be working even harder.

And the distribution panel might have been the biggest cold water splash of them all. Veronica Villarreal from E1 Music said that only 500 of 4,300 Walmarts carry music, of which most of it is TV-based. The Walmarts and Targets of the world are look for you to sell 400-500 CDs per week. Kevin Salem from Little Monster Records was again one of the most quotable folks around, pointing out that the question isn't just (from the artist to the distributor), "What are you doing to get my record into stores?," but also (from the distributor to the artist), "What are you doing to get your record out of the stores?" Said Salem in that regard, "Nothing is as powerful as doing a great show, even if it's for 10 people." In other words, you've got to take your career -- even if it's a part-time one seriously. You have to, yes, own that stuff. (Just like Cathy Fink did in giving her initial comments for the panel while accompanying herself on an electric guitar-styled ukulele.)

My own panel on "Old School Meets New School" was fun, but I'm a poor judge of that, I suppose. It was the only panel that wasn't specifically designed to be nuts-and-bolts. Instead, I viewed it mostly as an opportunity for the more experienced hands on the panel to a) reassure newer folks that this was a valuable path to travel, but b) it wasn't going to be easy. Bill Harley still sets aside an hour a day to write new stuff. That's commitment to the creative side.

Sustaining this Kids New Wave is going to take a lot of hard work and effort. You don't have to do it full time. But whatever time you give to the genre, you're gonna need to give it your full attention. If you don't own your stuff, nobody's going to do it for you.

More thoughts after the jump...
Random thoughts...

-- My nametag just said "Stefan" (no last name), but it turns out that it wasn't because my fame traveled so far only one name was necessary a la Prince or Madonna or Liberace. Just an oversight.

-- Having traveled all the way from Arizona to be at the conference (pretty sure I was the only one there from Arizona), people seeing me kept asking me the same burning question: "Is your name pronounced 'STEF-un' or 'stef-AHN'?" For the record I pronounce it the former, but my mom who named me uses the latter and I honestly don't know how somebody pronounces my name. Unless they call me "STEE-ven," in which case, yes, I notice.

-- Conferences of artists and in the Facebook era can lead to some puzzled looks. Alexandra from Alexandra and the Good Batch without green hair and Gwendolyn without her pigtails both threw me for a loop. Of course, I should talk -- my Facebook page has my face obscured by a lime-green Dan Zanes ukulele. When I went to say hello to Yosi Levin, the fact that I hadn't actually met him in person before slipped my mind. Without the uke in front of my face, it sorta confused him...

-- Heard a lot of release dates, including the release date for the next Secret Agent 23 Skidoo disk. But the most exciting news was that the Elizabeth Mitchell / Suni Paz collaboration is now public knowledge.

-- It was a great time, even if the nearly 300 people there were probably 50 more than the venue could reasonably expect to handle. As a result of the huge crowds, I was sort of forced to choose between committing to the panels or committing to chatting. I spent nearly the entire time talking and still didn't get to meet everyone. I even occasionally got confused (or just couldn't remember things). So, sorry, Dave, I get 300 disks a year and sometimes I get my facts confused and think I got a 2008 album rather than a 2009 album. So if you didn't get a chance to talk to me, drop me a line, happy to say hello.

-- And finally, thanks to Tor, Bill, Stephanie, and Mona, for a great lineup and for keeping that lineup moving in a timely manner. It was (and will be in the future) an excellent weekend.

Kids Music and Beer

Last week there was an article about a growth spurt in microbreweries in the Phoenix area. I took an interest in the article because, well, I like beer and one of the (not-new-at-all) microbreweries is within walking distance of my house. (Think globally, drink locally.)

But the article illustrated a number of principles that also applies to the kids music genre. So indulge me if you will...

1. Kids music genre still needs to educate a perhaps skeptical public. They're so amazed," says one microbrewery owner of the quality inherent in the product. Nobody has to explain why there's literature for kids, but music for kids? I would guess that regular readers of this site (families, artists, or others) have often been in the situation of having to say something like, "No, there's some really good kids music out there crafted with care."

2. Don't alienate your potential customers by slamming their taste.

[There] are beer lovers who find the microbreweries' offerings too aggressive or bitter.

"I get that a lot," said Matt Mercer, the brewer at Old World Brewery in north Phoenix. Customers tell him his beers have too much flavor or are too strong. "If you're used to drinking water," he said, "I guess so."

Or the guy who says he's tempted to give a customer a glass of water if they ask for a Budweiser or something that tastes like a Bud.

Argh. I understand that you think you have a better product. But insult the audience at your peril. Remember, your audience is the exception, not the rule. The rule's a lot bigger. Much better is the attitude of the brewer who, instead of getting mad when someone orders a Bud, serves a sample of his own beer alongside the Bud. I'm not suggesting kids musicians should be working songs from High School Musical into their acts. But an appreciation of why (for reasons good and not-so-good) those mass-market acts are, well, mass-market (i.e., popular) is a good thing to keep in mind.

3. Your competition is your friend. Obviously, music has always been a little less competitive than other industries as nominally competitive artists constantly collaborate on songs and albums. This is something the craft brewers have taken to heart:

Only about 25 percent of beer drinkers drink craft beer, said Hoffman, of Dave's Electric. That leaves an untapped market of drinkers to pry away from their Millers and Coors.

"We're trying to get a piece of that much larger pie," he said, "and not necessarily a piece of each other's pie."

Amen to that. I've seen RIAA figures that suggested that only about 3% of music sales are for kids music. And I'm sure that the number of parents who've bought an album remotely considered "kindie" is probably similar. Seems like there's some potential for growth there.

Hence the frustration with folks who promote their new kids album along the lines of, "Finally, a kids music album parents can enjoy!" There are so many reasons that's just wrong, wrong, wrong. But beyond that, musicians should be popping up on everyone else's album. There's been some of that, but much more can be done. Kids musicians should be sharing concert bills, swapping booking tips, giving advice (and generally using sites like this one), because the genre's nowhere near a zero-sum point. One artist's success is, to some extent, a small success for other artists. A large crowd for a big-name artist opens doors for artists without as much name recognition.

4. Keep doing what you're doing. Finally, what I like about the folks interviewed is that none of them have suggested that they've tweaked what they've done to appeal to a mass audience. They know that they're not going to have the mass appeal of the Budweisers of the world, and they're OK with that. That's one of the things I appreciate the most about the kids music genre right now. There are so many folks trying so many different things and people are comfortable writing and performing music that might not have been heard fifteen or twenty years ago. Oh, sure, there are still the pioneers who are either still going or whose albums have faded from view. But the sheer number of the musical approaches is so much greater now. Worldwide fame is going to be mostly elusive in these turbulent times for the music business. But a decent living making music for families is available to a lot of talented musicians... if they work together on it.

Dan Zanes Makes Wal-Mart Smile... Do You? (Updated)

Updated: I've now seen the Dan Zanes/Wal-Mart/Coke ad -- comments below...

So, Bill noted yesterday that he'd heard about a Wal-Mart ad featuring none other than Dan Zanes' "Hello, Hello." Yes, that Dan Zanes, who I think the world of and just a couple years (before the bottom fell out of the real estate market) was fighting the Atlantic Yards development in Brooklyn.

I haven't seen the ad (it purportedly features both Wal-Mart and Coke -- how's that for combining congolmerates), but I can understand why it would give folks pause. Without seeing the ad, there's no way of knowing in what context it's used, but certainly Dan Zanes has been very pro-community and Wal-Mart -- well, let's just say the jury is clearly not resolved on Wal-Mart's benefit to the community.

The only piece of information I can add is that according to this post, Zanes has lent a song of his for use by Wal-Mart in their stores over a year ago (at least as early as February 2008), albeit "Smile Smile Smile." Is there a difference between that and a TV ad? Probably just depends on what the ad says.

As for Zanes himself, he's never been shy about affiliating himself with bigger corporations to get his message across -- his latest DVD, the one with a number of songs from his all-Spanish album, is being distributed by Razor & Tie. Oh, and there's the Disney music show pilot. And plenty of other stuff. And Zanes seems more acutely aware of his image amongst his fans than almost any other kids' artist. I've got to believe he thought through the implications of his choice a fair bit.

But it still doesn't mean there won't be some questions...

Update: As we watch TV rarely, and commercial TV even more rarely, I didn't expect to actually see the ad in question, but today I did, albeit in a most surprising place -- at the movie theatre. In the series of ads/promos/wastes of time they now show before the movie previews was none other than the ad. It is a very Dan Zanes-ian ad, albeit one that posits Coke and (to a lesser extent) Wal-Mart as the solution needed for community. One kid (or maybe it's multiple folks) deliver Cokes (from a Wal-Mart bag) to neighbors, placed on top of napkins with the name of a park and "3:30" written on it. Sure enough, everybody shows up at the park at the appointed time, puts their napkins on the ground, at which point it turns into a picnic blanket. Yeah, it got a little weird there at the end. Zanes makes no appearance...

I couldn't tell if the song was the version off of Rocket Ship Beach, off his Hello Hello book/CD combo, or something else. Not that it really matters, but since it was really just about 29 seconds of music (pretty much from the start of the song), it probably wouldn't have made much difference

So anyway, in its celebration of community, the ad was definitely Zanes-ian, as I said. It probably doesn't alleviate much of the initial cognitive dissonance noted here and elsewhere by Zanes' participation, but it doesn't make it worse, either -- it's not like DZ was strolling through the aisles of Wal-Mart drinking Coke a la Mean Joe Greene.

And that's probably all I'm gonna say 'bout this...

Singing Together

I mentioned a few weeks back that Bill Harley had started a new blog and I've been checking it out occasionally ever since.

What I like about Harley's blog, besides it being well-written, funny, and spell-checked -- I'm lucky if I get two of those three -- is that he's been taking a very big picture view of things. He's been interested in songs, and kids, and culture, big topics that don't lend themselves to quick posts, snappy one-liners, and links to other folks' comments. Things, if you haven't noticed, that I tend to rely on.

So I was quite pleased to see Bill's recent post on singing together, because it says better than I could how wonderful making music together can be.

Singing together is what people have always done. There’s less of it today – we leave it to the “professionals” (me?) and forget that we’re happier and healthier if we open up our mouths and belt it out with the people around us. This has nothing to do with virtuosity, or perfect pitch, or being a soprano or alto or whatever. It has to do with being human.

I've found it a little sad that we've left most of the communal singing in our North American society to the churches. Don't get me wrong -- I think it's great for the churches, and it's one of the things that brings me joy on Sunday mornings -- but why it should be reserved for a segment of the population for maybe an hour on Sunday morning?

So I'm hopeful to hear in Harley's post that there are still groups of people who get together and sing for the pure joy of it. As he puts it, "Singing is an expression and fostering of community." While I spend most of my time talking about how professionals craft songs and experiences for our families to enjoy together, I hope that you are all also taking the opportunity to sing your own songs, no matter how silly or out-of-tune you may think they are. Because they're probably not, and even if they are, it doesn't matter.

Well, this wasn't quite quick, but there was a snappy one-liner or two, and a link. Two out of three ain't bad.

Post-Grammy Thoughts on the Genre

I already posted some thoughts -- mostly from other people -- about the 2009 Grammys. And, yeah, I was glad They Might Be Giants won -- it was my favorite of the five nominated albums, and one of my favorites of the year, period. I'm glad Brady Rymer got nominated, and I wouldn't have been sad to see Trout Fishing in America to win as sort of a "career achievement" award. And Bill Harley is, well, Bill Harley. Hard to argue with that win for Best Spoken Word Album for Kids.

But the weekend of the Grammys also saw a group of kids music folks get together for a brunch to talk about the genre and ways in which the children's music community can work together to foster awareness of the genre.

Karen Rappaport McHugh at Muddy Girl Productions sent me a summary of the event, which included more than 30 artists, managers, media, marketing and PR consultants. I've posted most of that summary below for your perusal and thought. These aren't the answers, but they're some thoughts of folks who've spent a lot of time thinking about the genre. While the first point deals with more Grammy-related issues, the stuff after the jump is relevant to musicians regardless of their interest in the Academy.

Reactions to the summary are welcome in the comments below.

Or, if you'd like, you can go to the very end and see some Grammy trivia put together by Cathy Fink. Quincy Jones - who knew?

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1. RECORDING ACADEMY
As a result of our initial meeting in 2008, the first GRAMMY Children’s Music Showcase at the Grammy Museum was established to build excitement around the category... To continue this process, we will work to have this event included as an “official” Grammy event in 2010 such as other categories receive including Grammy Salute to Classical and Grammy Salute to Jazz.

In addition, it was recommended that individual artists become active in their local chapters and approach them about hosting children's music events in several of the top markets for its membership: Nashville, Austin, Chicago, New York and San Francisco were mentioned as possible locations as members from each of these chapters were present at the meeting. Creating local events on a chapter level during the year would really help artists reach into their own membership, which is tremendously helpful during award nominations. Cathy Fink and/or Karen Rappaport are available to artists who are interested in working on this project to expand it beyond the one Grammy week concert. Although the Recording Academy is unlikely to sponsor concerts, recommended events might include:

A Children's Music Listening Party and Meet & Greet Workshop/Seminars, such as:
1) The elements of an excellent recording for children
2) Call for all genres to discuss children's music
3) "Get Up To Date" in the Children's Music Field

For workshops like these, it may be best to bring in outside speaker(s) along with local folks. Contact your Chapter’s Director for a meeting and to discuss options.

Finally, it was noted that people who are not eligible to become voting members can join as associate members and still have a voice within their chapter – this would include MEDIA, MANAGERS, PUBLICISTS, etc. and would be extremely helpful to the children’s music community. As Cathy Fink noted, “the Recording Academy is a membership organization and is there to serve you. You have to let them know what’s important to you and the more members who are part of the children’s music community, the better.”
2. POSITIONING AND MARKETING
This is one of the most difficult areas that artists face in every genre but particularly in the children’s music category. There was much agreement among the artists that defining your music as, “not like Barney” or “something you and your kid can listen to” or “kindie rock” was not going to be enough to sway media to write about it any longer. [Ed.: Amen!] Children’s music (like children’s books) should be considered a staple and parents should build a ‘library’ of music to expose their kids to a variety of genres.

It was generally agreed that it is MOST important in today’s crowded environment that making a video is particularly important not only to stream on a website but also to show booking agents and venues. While Noggin is showing less videos, a new website Jitterbug has launched to stream children’s music videos.

Additonally, many seemed to think that spending excess funds on press materials wasn’t necessary if the package was clever. Sending materials via CD and/or flash drives were other options being explored by artists. Amy Trulock of Hip Young Parent explained that sending music to her digitally was often better than sending a big CD package that took her longer to stream onto her site.

3) DISTRIBUTION
In an era when fewer CDs are being sold and your audience demands new music on a regular basis but you have little funds to produce it, one suggestion was to distribute digitally and use more social networking to reach your fan base. More kids artists need to sign up with iLIKE (a music site) so fans can find them and share them with others who might like them, as well.

4) TOURING
It was generally agreed that touring is one of the most difficult things for artists as there are some cities with great venues for children’s artists and others that are still lacking which makes planning a tour very difficult. Artists can be very successful regionally but have a difficult time attracting an audience in other cities and venues now want the artist to bring in the crowds. One idea that circulated around the room was for artists to form a more cohesive community and sharing information on a city-wide basis.

Stefan Shepherd from Zooglobble sent in his comments stating, “it’s going to take a long time to get the genre to a point where it's truly vibrant. And that's because the idea of seeing music live -- or to be more specific, touring artists live -- is still a somewhat foreign concept. Sure, there are the stars…but if you're not quite there, it's very hard. It's up to the local artists to develop their own scene and particularly venues that can host musicians on a regular basis. The Seattle bands need to work hard to find a couple of local places that LA bands can play on a weekend jaunt to Washington and Oregon, and the LA bands need to do the same for Seattle bands. Otherwise artists are going to stay trapped in their regional haunts with only a few bands breaking out. I realize this is oversimplifying and that folks are already doing it, but I think they need to do it more, and that bands need to work even more cooperatively than they're already doing.”

Cathy Fink adds that the more creatively you think about your touring, the less competition you will see. If NO one is performing your local library circuit, go there. It's a great place to build new fans. They often have funds through "Friends of the Library". The same may be true for summer camps, private schools, etc. Supplement your income creatively instead of spending all your time trying to play popular venues that have a long list of folks competing for a few performance slots. Find the places where you aren't competing, including creating new venues.And remember, these days, each promoter/venue expects you to bring a crowd in. We need to encourage the venues to nurture their own audiences more and create a sense of audience loyalty and trust in the quality of entertainment the venue brings in.

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The first Children's Music GRAMMY Award was presented in 1958 at the 1st Annual GRAMMY Awards to Ross Bagdasarian Sr. for the recording of "The Chipmunk Song" performed by David Seville And The Chipmunks.

Other early winners in children's field were:
Peter Ustinov, Leonard Bernstein, Julie Andrews & Dick Van Dyke (Mary Poppins)
Bill Cosby - 1971 for Bill Cosby Talks to Kids About Drugs
Peter Paul & Mary -1969 for Peter, Paul & Mommy
Many Sesame St. & Muppet Projects through the years
Movie Soundtracks, Dr. Seuss Books on tape

1983 - Michael Jackson & Quincy Jones win for "ET"

1993 - The Recording Academy introduced BEST SPOKEN WORD ALBUM FOR CHILDREN, making that category separate from BEST MUSICAL ALBUM FOR CHILDREN. In that year, Audrey Hepburn won the spoken word for "Audrey Hepburn's Enchanted Tales." Alan Menken & Tim Rice for music from the motion picture "Aladdin"

1996 - David Holt, folk musician and storyteller who specialized in children's and family performances, won the spoken word category for "Stellaluna" This was a GRAMMY first.

2003 - Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer became the first touring children's artists performing primarily their own material to win a GRAMMY Award, for the recording, "Bon Appetit". Working children's musicians Tom Chapin, John McCutcheon, Trout Fishing in America, Dan Zanes, Buck Howdy, Tom Paxton, Ella Jenkins, Red Grammer and many other touring children's artists have been honored with nominations and in some cases, GRAMMY Awards.

In spoken word, Bill Harley won a GRAMMY in 2006 for his original stories and performances on "Blah Blah Blah: Stories About Clams, Swamp Monsters, Pirates & Dogs".

TOM PAXTON, 2009 GRAMMY LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD WINNER, wrote his first song in 1961, "The Marvelous Toy", which continues to be a best-selling and oft recorded song.

ELLA JENKINS was honored by a Recording Academy LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD in 2004, making her the first children's musician, educator, AND ukulele player to receive that award! A CD, "cELLAbration:A Tribute to Ella Jenkins" won a GRAMMY Award that year.