Kidz Bop: A Kid-friendly Alternative for Entertainment

       For many years, children have desired various forms of entertainment. In particular, music and film topped the list for children and teenagers, until the video game craze took over and became a formidable force within the entertainment industry. Consequently, the music, TV, film, and video industries were forced to become more creative in order to remain popular in the minds of teens and kids. One example of this is the Kidz Bop brand that was originally launched in 2000 to provide alternative versions of pop songs mainly for young people aged 5-12 years.

      What better way is there to keep children, tweens, and teens interested, other than to insert them directly into the equation? The idea that the Kidz Bop founders Cliff Chenfield and Craig Balsam conceived, to have young people perform covers of current pop hits, was a brilliant example of such. Chenfield speaks to Pacific Standard Magazine about the CD series that has morphed into a million-dollar multimedia business, and he stresses that their intention is to further “kid-cool and parent-friendly” entertainment content for all ages. Kidz Bop is a total hit, as evidenced by the fact that the albums consistently debut high on the Billboard 200 and their website following of over 900,000 youth. Kidz Bop now includes Kidz Star USA Talent Search, which is a national talent search competition for children under the age of 15. The winner wins a major RCA recording contract, cool prize packages, and an appearance in a Kidz Bop commercial and music video. Today, Kidz Bop has become a safely moderated social networking and video site that features games, contests, photo and video uploads, fan pages, and a music-listening forum for kids to have fun and be creative. Kidz Bop even has: books; magazines; clothing; toy instruments; DVDs; a pop dance group; a Wii video game; an iOS app; and even a weekly SiriusXM Radio show called Kidz Bop Block Party. Chenfield mentions on Radio.com that the Kidz Bop success has carved out other opportunities that may include finding, promoting, and developing child stars in the future. By connecting to kids directly from the Internet, and broadening their media offerings, they definitely have the foundation for these endeavors.

      Despite this brand’s success, there are of course people who are anti-Kidz Bop because they feel that the original pop songs are being ruined because of the watered down, kid-friendly versions. I disagree because, as a parent, I do not want my child listening to some of the inappropriate lyrics that many pop songs currently contain, despite the catchy hooks and melodies. The Kidz Bop songs and website provide an outlet for them to enjoy versions of the songs they enjoy that are not harmful to their emotional or social development; as well as social networking that is safe from predators or bullies. For these reasons, Art of Audio Productions would be honored to produce audio for media similar to Kidz Bop’s. It would be amazing to be a part of something that has proven, and continues, to be a positive experience for many, many kids who need entertainment that is tailored just for them! Why not ask a kid what they think?

Audiobooks: An Important Resource for Students

      As an avid reader, I can certainly appreciate the benefits of using my sense of sight for entertainment and/or learning when reading a book. However, as an audio professional and musician, I can also see equal benefits from using the sense of hearing by listening to audiobooks. When you read a book, you are completely reliant upon your imagination to fill in the gaps concerning the details that the book might have left out. For example, although a book can certainly describe a character with great detail, it is up to the reader’s imagination to create the sound of that character’s voice in order to make the story come alive. The beauty of an audiobook, however, is that there is no need to do this because it is already done for you! Listening to an audiobook can be very exciting and can also speed up the process of covering book content, because listening to a book often results in more chapters being covered than reading the traditional way. Additionally, listening to an audiobook can also be done while doing something else simultaneously, such as ironing, cooking, exercising, or getting dressed. This gives you the ability to multitask and get more things done while also being entertained. These are benefits for just about anyone of any age, but what about the importance of the benefits for students?

      On Reading rockets, which is a website that provides resources for teaching children how to read or how to improve reading, it is mentioned that some people do not consider listening to audiobooks part of the reading process. When you read, you should be able to summarize what was read by: providing the character, setting, problem, and solution. Furthermore, that summary indicates that you were successful in comprehending what the book was attempting to convey. If you listen to an audiobook and are able to provide a sufficient summary of what you heard, is that not the same as reading? I submit that it is, and for a young person, it may inspire a greater desire to read books in the traditional manner as well. This is just one possible benefit of listening to audiobooks. Reading Rockets provides a comprehensive list of the many benefits of listening to audiobooks for students, and developing critical listening skills is one of them. Changing Minds gives a definition of critical listening, which involves evaluating what was heard in order to form thoughts, opinions, or judgment, and this is very important for young readers to be able to do after reading any text.

      Young people are easily distracted and are prone to quickly becoming bored. Therefore, it is imperative that the media they are listening to be engaging enough to keep their attention, especially when there is nothing that is visual to accompany it. For these reasons, it is critical that the audio for audiobooks is professionally done in superb quality; that the voiceover actors/actresses are skilled; and that the audio production is creative, entertaining, and fascinating. Audiobooks are becoming increasingly readily available and more affordable for the public, which should increase the consumer demand for this type of media and hopefully make it easier for schools to purchase more audiobooks for school libraries. Consequently, it is the aim of AOAP to consistently create memorable and exciting audio for audiobooks, in order to contribute to the growth and development of students worldwide, because listening is fundamental too!