I worked for KIDZ BOP for 3 years! Ask Me Anything!

Why?

It was a job! I had just moved to NY to work in the music business and the label was the only one to offer me a paid internship as I was starting out. I moved into KB full time in 2007 because my boss kicked ass.

Did you have any friends left after giving them KIDZ BOP CDs?

I actually only have 1 friend with kids at the moment, and the mom loves the CDs with the kids.

Haters hate but I went to school for music business and I would have taken that job too. Sounds like it was fun at least for awhile.

Exactly. It WAS fun for awhile. About 3 years of awhile.

You're a champ. I might have made 2 depending on other conditions.

It was a new experience for me. Hadn't left my home town outside of philly ever in terms of living. Spent 3 years up in NY working for the label. Great life experience.

Did you ever sit at home at night, cradling a handgun, crying at the torture devices you'd help create?

Batman doesn't use guns, and neither did I. I did, however, leave as soon as my boss quit cause she was the only reason I was staying.

However, when I stubbed my toe once, I did put the music on repeat to help drown the pain.

You were trying to get with that, weren't you?

Did you also down a handle of vodka too?

Hahaha. No, I wasn't. She was just an awesome person to work for.

Tequila, my friend. Vodka is for pussies.

you should try Mezcal. It'll change your life.

I love mezcal.

Did you actually like the music? Did ANYONE like the music?

You can't help but find it catchy, but no, I did not like the music.

Who on earth actually buys Kidz Bop? Is it just corporate/business owners looking for some background filler for stores and the like, or do actual human beings deliberately and nonjokingly go out of their way to get it? You say you were with marketting, so I imagine you had to have quite a lot of connection with Sales and whatnot.

We sold an ASSLOAD of music. Parents of kids that are to old for Raffi but to young for the real shit really loved what we did. As I said in another comment, it helped parents and kids enjoy something together. The parents loved the original songs, so they could sing with the kids. You'd be surprised how many people love Kidz Bop.

Just to clarify, because i am not familiar with metric, how do assloads translate into pounds.

1 assload is 25 courics.

What's the most controversial KIDZ BOP song that did (OR: didn't) make it on to an album?

Oh man. You know, I didn't have that much interaction with them picking the songs. There was basically 1 guy who chose most of the music, then recorded it. Then it got passed off to us in marketing to promote it.

The whole idea (at least back then) was to pick whatever was hot at the moment and redo it. We would joke about doing REALLY inappropriate stuff, but never really went through with it because, well, it'd be controversial.

Of course, when you're turning sex fueled pop songs into children's hits, everything will be controversial.

Sorry if that's not the answer you were looking for.

So I shouldn't expect a Thrash Metal Kidz Bop?

I would have LOVED that. In fact, myself and an intern I had near the end of my stay LOVE metal, so that would have kicked ass.

Thank you, that's exactly the answer I was looking for.

I can just imagine the irony going on there in the marketing dept...

You can't market sex to kids that young. Unfortunately, the industry is full of it, and the kids are subjected to it. KB kind of gives parents a safe(r) avenue to let their kids be fans of pop music. While a lot of people think it massacres the music (and I wouldn't totally disagree), it also gives kids and parents something they can sing along to together. Also, the kids LOVED the concerts.

They have concerts???

Yeah. They're insane. I don't know if they still do them. I went to a few. The kids watching are so enamored with it. They go crazy. You ever see footage of foreign countries freaking out over Michael Jackson? Yeah. Imagine that.

• Where do they get the kids?

• Would you buy it for your kids?

• Any idea how many CD's they released?

We found the kids through casting calls. We also had contests occasionally for kids to become temporary KB Kids.

I don't want kids... but no. No I would not.

Well over 35 or so. I think they're up past 20 actual number releases, plus all the specials (Halloween, Xmas, 80s, etc.)

why wouldn't you buy it for you own kid? any specific moral type reasons or just because it's not real music?

I wouldn't raise my kid on pop music.

not even the beatles? that's cruel..

Never got into the Beatles.

Are there any kids that have worked on Kidz Bop that have went on to have relatively successful careers in the music industry?

i honestly have no idea.

If you ever worked with the kids, what were they like? Did they all act snotty since they were "famous" or were they kind and polite?

When we did the concert tour, I went to a few and met the kids. They were all ridiculously nice and excited to be there. It was an adult band, 2 adult singers, and 4-5 kids. Everyone was having fun and rocking out. It was pretty funny.

how do they get rights to all the songs? must be $$$!

It's all through publishing. In reality, covering a song isn't as crazy as it seems. By US law, you are legally allowed to cover songs under a compulsory license. So getting permission wasn't really an issue. Obviously, there were some artists (whom I won't name) who weren't ok with it. Then it's just a matter of dealing with the royalty entities. KB sold a TON of discs, so it wasn't always that bad.

Am I allowed to name one? Prince. He fucking hates that pretty much anyone can cover a song of his. Source.

yes he does. there are a lot of people that hate it. you know weird al usually gets permission from the artists even though he doesn't have to. good guy he is.

Now that I think about it, I think every artist would hate getting covered by Kidz Bop. So, (since I know you won't answer the opposite question) were there any artists that were pleased or at least ambivalent to get a Kidz Bop cover?

Sean Kingston actually did a song WITH us, so that was one artist.

How much did you make an an intern per hour?

Full time salary?

$7 an hour in NYC. it was brutal.

damn that's below minimum wage even in NJ. Let alone for NYC. Marketing Coordinator? How much made there?

My buddy is getting 17 an hour this summer at an IT internship.

My final salary was around $31k a year. It sucked.

Dang, how did you make ends meet living in NY?

my wife worked as well.

What is your job now, and how much better is it than Kidz Bop?

i've always loved kids. in 1 month, i will be finishing my masters to be an elementary school teacher. i'm already certified and i currently work with autistic kids at a middle school. it's a million times better than kidz bop.

...Wait, I just realised. You're getting your masters in one month! Awesome job!

Haha. Thanks!

but you said you don't want kids?

i don't. that doesn't mean i don't enjoy working with them.

Did you take place in any of those music videos too? Or just helped record the song.

I was in one music video, but I won't say which one as that would identify me :)

Don't have to say what, but was the role embarrassing? Or did you enjoy it?

Nope. It was funny, actually. I'm a metalhead, and when they did the video, they had everyone in wardrobe, but looked at me and said, "just wear whatever you want." It was fun. Besides, how many people get to say they were in a music video?

The commenters here really make me realize how young the reddit crowd is.

For many people, a good job has very little if anything to do with the end product. A good boss, a good environment between employees, and better pay than you get anywhere else? That's a fantastic job. It doesn't matter that you're making Kidz Bop CDs or tire valves. Nobody has an affinity for making tire valves.

Exactly.

Did you ever procure permission to film those commercials on location?

I mean, it really looks like you snuck some kids into a water park and had them lip sync for 10 seconds.

I didn't handle the filming of the spots. We had a dedicated team for the TV marketing.

So, I'll be brave enough to come out & say I've purchased Kidz Bop for my kids. Like it or not, it's odd and uncomfortable for me to hear my young kid chanting "Hey Sexy Lady" & "Your Sex Takes Me To Paradise". He got to hear the tunes he loved, and it wasn't extremely inappropriate.

And yes, I'm working on improving his taste in music. :)

You paid my bills! Thank you.

How many of those kids come back for another CD? Does singing for Kids Bop turn help out their careers in the music business?

Also are the rumors true that the people from Kidz Bop are going to start making a new edition with fully grown adults?

I don't know about the kids as I just did the marketing. Up until right before I left, we didn't even have "Kidz Bop Kids". They were all supposed to be faceless so that each listener could feel like they're a KB Kid. It was all about empowerment.

I have no idea about rumors nowadays as I've been out of it for almost 4 years.

Who is buying Kidz Bop cds? Do kids like it or do parents or both?

both. parents are the ones actually buying it, but they all loved it.

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Thanks!

How else did you market? Because I only ever saw TV commercials.

Lots of blogs. Promotions with big box companies. It really was mostly TV, though, as that's where the kids would see it the most. We also had digital placement and physical placement in stores. We'd do print in very specific magazines, but again, most kids don't read magazines, so it was a few parenting mags once in a while.

So why did you quit?

And would you rather fight 100 duck sized horses, or one horse sized duck?

well, if i can bring my 3 dogs, i'll go for the 100 duck sized horses. if not, then 1 horse sized duck. i love duck... mmmmm.

i quit because i realized that the music business is just business. i didn't enjoy it. i now work as a teaching assistant while i look for a job as a full time teacher.

What would you teach? (And good luck [Good job, we need more teachers])

i'm certified in elementary. it's fucking impossible to get a job at the moment, though. i've been trying for 2 years now. luckily, i have a solid job as a teaching aide.

Sorry, I was homeschooled and I have no idea about public schools. Do elementary teacher have specific subjects they teach?

not usually. we teach 1 group of students everything (math, science, social studies, english, social skills). usually the arts and gym are separate, along with languages.

Have you forgiven yourself?

yup!

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hell yeah man! i was there when we did some QVC. in fact, the woman who came down to be on air (whom shall rename nameless) was my boss!

how much, if anything, did the kids who actually appeared on the commericals make

were those kids the same people who did the singing in the cds(were they kids?)

how much were the singing kids on the CD paid

Estimate if you have to i'm just curious

no idea how much they made. at first, the commercial kids were not the kids on the CDs. I don't know if that's the case anymore. I couldn't even begin to estimate.

RAZOR AND TIE OWNED KIDZ BOP? WELL TODAY I FUCKING LEARNED

Haha. Yup. Blew my mind the first time I found out.

Can you 'rap'?

Does ice ice baby count? That's my jam.

I have one question: Why would you help with these travesties?

I needed a job. Also, the real music side of the label had dope artists.

TIL Devin The Dude, John Lithgow and All That Remains are signed to the same label as Kidz Bop

we also had lamb of god back in the day! it was badass! i actually helped with the filming of the all that remains DVD in Philly. it was dope.

also, don't forget a Twisted Sister Christmas!

I didn't know Razor & Tie created Kidz Bop. I listen to a few Razor & Tie artists (For Today, Norma Jean, P.O.D., Brand New, Foreigner. Just to name a few.)

• Did you work mainly in the label part or in the publishing part of Razor & Tie? Or did you just coordinate marketing for the entire company?

• What was the most fun part of your job?

• What was the most difficult part of the job?

• What advice would you give to someone who is considering going into the music business?

I started working for the main label as KB hadn't really broken off yet. I did marketing my entire time there.

I loved getting free music. The people I worked with kicked ass. I also got to meet some cool artists.

Living in NY and helping to manage huge budgets was hard.

Advice? Accept the fact that, probably for a good long while, you're going to work long hours and make shit money. I have a few friends still in it (going on a decade of being in it) and it's still tough. The whole industry has changed. That's one of the reasons I got out of it. It's a lot more of a BUSINESS now then it used to be.

Do the kids really sing it?

Yeah. There are always kids on the records.

Can the kids really sing that well?

Auto tune?

Is it mostly auto tune or is it some skill?

Some skill.

Razor & Tie also releases Twisted Sister's "A Twisted Christmas" album. Did you have anything to do with that?

Yup.

When did Razor n Tie move from "Best of..." budget compilations in the 90's to signing and creating bands/music?

they always had bands, but the best of comps were the bread and butter that allowed them to rock the bands.

Any funny stories from working there?

Hmmmmm. I think the funniest stories are more just the fact that the people that worked KB were batshit crazy. We were all just nuts.

Was it exclusively Kids Bop or was it other things within the label as well? I know that one of my favorite bands, Norma Jean, is signed to the label.

They do a lot of distribution and have some of their own artists.

This is gonna sound messed up, but sometimes child actors like the girl from Family Matters grow up to do porn. Have any of the kidz bop kids grown up to have sorrid lifestyles? Has there ever been any gossip like "One of the girls we had do brittney spears back in the day sells coke now, wow!"

no idea.

what does COD stand for?

Since Op is probably done, I'll answer. It's "Collect on Delivery," it means the recipient pays for it when the product is delivered. It pretty much never happens in mass market mail-order stuff now, due to logistics and having to move the money from the deliverer to the seller.

Exactly.

Is their actually still a market for kidz bop?

I would assume so.

Are you familar with Devo 2.0?

Yup

What did you study in school?

English and communications. I worked at my schools radio station. I was running it by my senior year.

ever meet the chenfelds?

Yup.

Do you know anything about the adults who would sing the lead vocals on the earlier KB albums (they switched to all-kids around KB14 or so), like their names, or why they decided to get rid of them finally (I couldn't stand hearing the male singer in the commercials who sounded like he had his nose pinched).

Is it true that Razor & Tie does not have to get the rights to cover the songs?

And was it true that Fall Out Boy's "Dance, Dance" was supposed to be on KB10 before Pete Wentz stopped it? http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1533265/fall-out-boy-take-on-kidz-bop.jhtml

Don't know much about the adults.

I believe publishing was paid.

Not sure about the FOB thing as that was right at the beginning of my time there.

Oh man so sad I missed this, maybe OP will check back... I swear years ago Kidz Bop almost did an Atreyu song. But since then I can't find a trace of this, did I imagine or dream this up? If it helps I think the song was ..right side of the bed?

i can't imagine KB would have done an Atreyu song. Atreyu never had anything in the top billboard charts :)

How much every year would KB spend on licensing songs to sing?

no idea.

Who rewrites the lyrics for a Kidz Bop cover?

Oddly enough, I have no idea.