What began as an innovative idea to offer family-friendly covers of popular pop songs, Kidz Bop has become the biggest children’s music brand in the world. With a simplified tagline, “Today’s Biggest Hits Sung By Kids For Kids,” Kidz Bop has released numerous charting cover versions of songs. Anyone familiar with Kidz Bop would naturally admit that these kid-centric versions of popular songs are often earworms.
Kidz Bop has appealed to younger audiences for more than two decades while maintaining a positive and safe environment for them. The brand’s success has been its ability to carve out a unique niche that provides children with a gateway to popular music in a way that resonates with parents’ desire for age-appropriate content. As an ever-growing brand and platform, here’s more on who owns and manages Kidz Bop.
Kidz Bop Chart Performances and Successes
Although the brand has had its fair share of critics over the years, the undeniable truth about Kidz Bop is its chart-popping numbers and successes. While they ended 2009 as No. 2 on Billboard’s Kids’ Album Artist behind Hannah Montana, Kidz Bop became No. 1 on Billboard’s 2010 Kids’ Album Artist. Although this is impressive in itself, Kidz Bop continued to dominate and was named Billboard’s No. 1 Kids’ Album Artist for 10 consecutive years from 2010 to 2020. With over 70 released albums, Kidz Bop albums have been certified gold several times. These albums, sometimes having four releases in a year, have seen Kidz Bop sell over 23 million albums.
Interestingly, in November 2015, Kidz Bop ranked on Billboard Magazine’s Most Billboard 200 Top 10 Albums. This ranking honored artists with albums that have appeared the most on the Billboard 200. Much to the surprise of several music enthusiasts, Kidz Bop was ranked No. 4 on the list. This meant they outranked musical icons like Madonna. With the popularity and success of streaming platforms, Kidz Bop audiences also increased greatly. In their yearly chart rankings, Spotify announced in 2020 that Kidz Bop was the top streamed artist in the US on their Spotify Kids app. Since they debuted on streaming platforms, Kidz Bop has generated over 4.5 billion streams.
Kidz Bop Founders – Who Owns the Music Brand?
Curious about who owns Kidz Bop? Well, the answet to that is a little complicated. The idea for what eventually became Kidz Bop came from music executives and co-founders of Razor & Tie entertainment company Craig Balsam and Cliff Chenfeld. While out for a birthday party, Balsam and Chenfeld, young fathers at the time, noticed a dearth of catchy, popular music for school-age kids. At the time, a lot has been invested in productivity content for preschoolers, with little to no attention paid to those between the ages of 5 and 12. This brought about the creation of the KIDZ BOP Enterprises LLC., which is part of the Concord Music Group. October 9, 2001, marked a milestone for the brand when it released its first entry song.
However, Kidz Bop’s President is Sasha Junk. She has been in the company for more than 14 years. However, she was made President in April 2020 and works from the brand’s headquarters in New York City. Prior to becoming President of Kidz Bop, Junk served as Senior Vice President of Marketing. It was in the capacity of SVP Marketing that she joined Kidz Bop in July 2009, serving in the position for almost 11 years until April 2020. Junk has led Kidz Bop to success since she joined the company. Her track record as part of its executive helped the brand achieve international expansion. Kidz Bop has expanded to four other countries, making its debut in the United Kingdom in 2017, Germany in 2019, and France and Mexico in 2021.
What Are the Ages of the Kids in Kidz Bop?
Although Kidz Bop mostly targets preteen audiences, their performing kids are usually preteens to 14-year-olds. This is done to ensure the songs closely appeal to the intended age groups. To ensure these kid performers stay on for a relatively long time, casting ages favored are from 10 to 12. Occasionally, Kidz Bop announces casting calls to recruit new singers to the group. To ensure these kids continue their education, a team of teachers is hired to always be with them throughout the production and while on tours. Although several of these kid performers choose to return to a normal life, Kidz Bop has showcased a few notable names in the entertainment industry. One popular Kidz Bop alumni is two-time Emmy Awards winner, Zendaya.