Photo Credit: Republic Records
Universal Music Group-owned Republic Records launches a new ‘Kids & Family’ label, with “major releases and partnerships” to be announced soon.
New York City-based label Republic Records launched a new Kids & Family division on August 19, focused on actively developing and releasing “family-friendly” content. The company’s VP of Marketing and Strategy, Bree Bowles, will head up the new venture.
“Our mission is simple: produce world-class music that can be enjoyed by both kids and their parents, creating invaluable moments to connect in what is a distracting world,” says Bowles, who boasts over 15 years of experience in children’s entertainment with executive positions at Disney and Nickelodeon.
“We are first and foremost building a label that is trusted by parents, but we are focused on developing a new IP, driving innovation, and exploring what is possible. Our team is excited, our artists are excited, and we hope the little fans will love the new music as much as we do. Kids are the future, which means kids are also the future of music.”
“We’ve always wanted to do a children’s label. Family is everything to us,” says Jim Roppo, co-president of Republic Records under Universal Music Group. “I am a dad before anything else. We finally found the perfect partner and an incredible executive, Bree, to bring this venture to life with quality, family-friendly, and fun music.”
Representatives for Republic Records say that “major releases and partnerships” will soon be announced, which is no surprise given the label’s presence in the industry. Kids’ entertainment is a significant business, with Disney carrying over 50% of the market in the first quarter of 2020, and Bree Bowles’ wealth of experience there will undoubtedly prove lucrative. Data gathered from Billboard found that kids’ entertainment accounted for a single percentage of US recorded music in 2020, and that number only continues to grow.
Meanwhile, CocoMelon and Baby Shark videos on YouTube continue to rack up millions and millions of views each month.