CHILDREN : Trouble on the Tot Charts : As more marketable ‘toons and celebrities move in, established children’s recording artists face shrinking musical prospects

You’ve got to

Make your own kind of music

Sing your own special song

Make your own kind of music

Even if nobody else sings along.

--”Make Your Own Kind of Music,” written by Barry Mann & Cynthia Weil, and sung by Caren Glasser on her children’s album “There’s Nobody Else Like You”

*

Children’s recording artist Caren Glasser was singing to kids, but today those lyrics resonate with a certain plaintive truth for her professional peers--career children’s singers and songwriters who, after years of obscurity, thought they had finally found a home, and legitimacy, in the mainstream record industry.

Time for a reality check.

It has been a scant two years since the major labels’ interest in children’s music was ignited by Canadian superstar Raffi’s seemingly overnight gold and multi-platinum success. If there could be one Raffi, why not two, three, a dozen?

With hundreds of independent children’s artists to choose from, veteran performers with solid regional support, such as Dan Crow, Tom Paxton, Rory and Parachute Express, were quickly snapped up; independent companies were tapped for distribution deals and joint alliances.

The business and entertainment media began calling children’s music a growth market and cited demographics--the baby boomers’ own boomlet--to illustrate a potentially huge demand. (According to U.S. Census Bureau figures, the annual birthrate from 1989 through 1992 was higher than at any time since the 1960s.)

Sony Music, BMG and Warner Bros. Records were among the majors announcing the formation of new children’s divisions during 1991 and 1992; even Walt Disney Records, the undisputed leader in family entertainment, opened a new live-artist division, signing Canadian Norman Foote and local favorites Parachute Express and Craig ‘n Co.

A&M; Records--the pioneer in the field, having launched Raffi in the United States in the ‘80s--had several artists on its children’s roster by the time Raffi left for MCA in 1990. Its most recent additions are PBS star Shari Lewis and singer-storyteller and National Public Radio commentator Bill Harley.

Today, the young industry is in a ferment of frustration and change. At issue is not the quality of the artists, but the fact that conventional marketing strategies are not particularly effective in selling them. Raffi’s success, far from happening overnight, was the result of years of touring, a strong official Canadian support system, creative, grass-roots promotion and just plain good timing.

“Raffi had a year that across his catalogue he sold a couple of million units--that was enough to turn every record company’s head,” said Ralph King, president of Rincon, a distributor-producer of children’s entertainment products. “But nobody realized the efforts that had led up to it.”

Sources throughout the industry describe “a cooling-off period” or “a shakedown,” demonstrated by a shift away from the traditional children’s music artist. The new trend is toward more easily marketable licensed cartoon characters, personalities and video- and TV-driven product.

Those without TV exposure are especially vulnerable. Some artists have already found the majors’ doors closing. A few have left on their own, unhappy with a perceived lack of support or focus.

“There’s always been a little follow-the-leader mentality in the music business,” said Ron Osher, vice president of BMG Enterprises, overseeing BMG Kidz music. “And I think some major companies put their foot in the water and are happy to get it back out without losing any toes.”

The odds are decreasing that the next Raffi will be an adult children’s artist at all.

Consider that dinostar Barney’s Lyons Group announced a seven-figure record deal in June with EMI Records Group. Or that the 1992 Epic Records release of the helium-voiced, celebrity-studded “Chipmunks in Low Places” has gone platinum and a second Chipmunks release is in the works. Or that the immensely popular “Full House” twins, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, part of Zoom Express/BMG Kidz music, “are a marketer’s dream,” in the words of Zoom President Bob Hinkle.

Or that Waylon Jennings, Little Richard and Cheech Marin are but a handful of the many celebrities who have dabbled in children’s recordings.

“It’s definitely becoming an area that everybody and their grandmother has their eyes on,” said Regina Kelland, director of children’s marketing at A&M; Records, “and the licensed character product has really started to explode.

“Some artists are not going to have any choice but to go back to being independents. Not every label is going to be in the position to hang on to a full roster of artists until the dust settles out there, which is unfortunate. They’re turning out to be the first casualties of this boom, and they were (its) mainstay.”

The new trend is vividly illustrated by Sony Music’s July announcement that it had overhauled its children’s division, Sony Kids Music. Audio product is now part of the company’s expanded family entertainment operation, Sony Wonder. All but two artists, Tom Chapin and Rory, have been dropped from its roster. Gone are several others, all well-regarded in the field, Dan Crow among them.

“I’m more relieved than disappointed,” Crow said, “because the frustrations were so numerous. We’ll all keep doing it--that’s all I know how to do, and I love it--but you sure do want to see it take off. The industry needs to know and the public needs to know that children’s music isn’t a bunch of chipmunks singing ‘Achy Breaky Heart.’ ”

Sony’s newest children’s releases feature cartoon characters singing kiddie rap and Beach Boys music. Costumed versions, a la Barney, will tour malls; the characters will be tied into merchandising products, video and TV.

The most significant element in the Sony restructuring, however, is a long-term, megabucks alliance with TV’s Nickelodeon cable channel. It will initially involve video and audio releases culled from and based on Nick’s programming for ages 6-12--or older. An upcoming “Ren & Stimpy” recording, “You Eediot!,” will target both children and college-age adults.

“We have to market to reality” was the succinct assessment of Ted Green, vice president of the Sony Music Group.

The reality is that despite the fact that parents are willing, even in recessionary times, to spend billions on all forms of children’s products and entertainment, the tantalizing children’s music market has proven elusive for record companies--and consumers.

Unlike the hit-driven world of rock ‘n’ roll, children’s music has no MTV or VH1-type programming for TV exposure, no major tour circuit for performers and little radio play. True, with the launching of the Children’s Satellite Network’s “Radio AAHS” last year, national children’s radio exists in a modest way on a dozen affiliates, but exposure on the CSN Top 10 list does not yet translate into measurable sales. Or into national recognizability for an artist with only regional popularity.

“We got in too soon without realizing the support needed,” said Mary Mueller, senior director of marketing for Rhino’s Kid Rhino division. To date, Micky Dolenz, Bobby Goldsboro, Caren Glasser, Hap Palmer, Andy Belling and teen-ager Mike Summers are still on the Kid Rhino roster. None will have a new album out this year.

“We don’t have the infrastructure to do them justice,” Mueller said. Kid Rhino’s “direction in the future” will be Yogi Bear, Flintstones and Ronald McDonald releases through its licensing agreements with Hanna-Barbera and McDonald’s, plus music compilations, a Rhino specialty.

“You’re gonna spend your time, your staff and your advertising dollars on an act where you feel you’ve a greater chance at a return,” said New York attorney Howard Leib, who specializes in and represents children’s artists.

“As a result, the artists who don’t have that behind them and who need it even more because they don’t--it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy. You say they won’t sell as well because people don’t know them, so you spend your money on artists people do know. So nobody knows them, so nobody buys them.”

On the other hand, Leib said, the 30 or so live artists at the major labels are only “the tiniest part of the children’s music industry. Most kids’ artists are on independent labels.” And, while there are “ego reasons and economic reasons” to want to sign with a major, without the majors’ overhead costs, independents need to sell fewer records to make money. “Everything’s a trade-off,” Leib said.

A&M; is holding onto its artists, except for its Canadian contingent--Fred Penner and this month the trio Sharon, Lois and Bram have joined Raffi in choosing to leave the label. But it is beefing up its video products in response to what the company views as the “less stable” audio side. It is also pursuing a new “Kids World” concept line and parenting videos.

“Before, you might have considered us more an audio label with some video,” Kelland said. “At the end of this year, video will have exceeded audio sales.”

Warner Bros. Records pulled back altogether from its announced intent to form a separate children’s division.

“We’re taking properties we have, instead of signing on a hundred children’s artists and letting them hit the wall to see what sticks,” said Sally Vail, director of creative enterprises. “Adult business is our core business, and that’s what we’re staying with. If artists on our label are interested in developing a children’s album along with their adult albums, we will consider it.”

Arlo Guthrie’s “Woody’s Grow Big” album and “Peter, Paul & Mommy, Too” by folk trio Peter, Paul & Mary fall into that category. Warners also has its own film- and TV-based licensed products and owns a 49% interest in Music for Little People, an independent distributor and producer of children’s music.

“From our perspective, with direct children’s audio-based product, I don’t think there is a major business unless it is driven by feature films or major character development like Barney,” Vail said. “I think the players will be those who put a lot of money into things. The Sony deal with Nick was very smart.”

Doing well within the limitations of the field are Western Publishing Co.’s 4-year-old Golden Music audio line and especially Disney, with a name that guarantees shelf space.

Disney’s live-artist Music Box division is only a tiny part of its prodigious character-themed output, but expectations for the artists “have been met or exceeded,” said Mark Jaffe, vice president of Walt Disney Records, by “integrating them into the Disney family.”

Parachute Express, for example, shared the stage with President Clinton during the Disney Channel’s televised inauguration festivities and Craig ‘n Co.’s latest album, “Rock ‘n Toontown,” is directly linked to Disneyland’s newest attraction.

According to the Record Industry Assn. of America, children’s music accounted for only $45 million, or 0.5% of the $9-billion music industry in 1992, up from about $23 million in 1991.

That figure, said RIAA spokesman Tim Sites, reflects only the dollar value of “what we ship at suggested list price to record retailers, minus the returns.”

Since most children’s music is sold through specialty markets, many in the industry place the actual figure considerably higher, some as high as 5%. There are hundreds of independents, in addition to the two or three dozen live artists at the majors.

Osher of BMG Enterprises, which has dramatically increased its presence in licensed and live-artist products through BMG Kidz, estimates the overall children’s share at “between $175 million to $225 million.”

“We’re trying to get the RIAA to say it officially.” (Sites said that the association is “looking into doing some additional research” and has also formed a committee to promote consumer awareness of children’s music products.)

Both artists and industry representatives agree, however, that the majors have insufficiently exploited not only the mass merchants, but also those specialty markets that have always been children’s artists’ bread and butter.

If children’s music is going to have the kind of growth seen in children’s books, said Randy Miller, senior vice president of marketing at MCA, “record companies have to learn how to market in the add-on avenues of distribution: children’s stores, bookstores in general, department stores, mass merchandisers, mail order.”

(In the last decade, children’s book sales have more than quadrupled; in 1990, sales were well over $1 billion.)

Miller acknowledged, however, that because of Raffi’s renown, MCA has an advantage in being able to “market him like we would any other music product.” He then added that the company would be “very selective” about signing another live artist to make sure that it is a promotable and workable artist “that opens doors for us.”

“It’s a bottom-line business,” said attorney Leib. “If 40,000 to 50,000 copies a year are the best (a traditional artist) can do, there’s only so many years that the powers that be are going to let them keep doing it.”

In specialty markets, 50,000 units is a “huge success,” said King at Rincon. “But 50,000 isn’t even the initial order to cover the mass-merchant community of stores.”

Dave Lovald, national sales manager for Silo Music, one of the largest national distributors of children’s audio and video, said that those small numbers clash with large record companies’ short-term agendas. “The sales of each individual title may not be in the six-digit figures that the majors would like, but it’s the cumulative effect that makes it good business.”

“The problem,” Osher said, “is the majors don’t know how to sell anywhere else. Some retailers are very good, but many are not totally involved with this kind of product.” And, to complicate matters, he said, “there’s no one place people expect to find it. Record stores, toy stores, bookstores, discount stores--it’s very scattered.”

In July, in response to all the confusion and industry Angst , Leib served as host of a children’s music marketing seminar as part of the annual New Music Seminar in New York. It was attended by artists, marketing executives from the majors and other industry reps.

Marketing was “ the issue,” Leib said. “Everybody’s looking for an answer. The majors, the people putting out their own records, they’re all looking for the answer. Nobody’s found it. There’s a lot of discussion going on as we speak, about all sorts of things: home shopping networks, putting stuff in grocery stores, mailers.

“We’re inventing this industry as we go. It literally changes every week. It changed when Sony dropped most of their artists; at the end of the month, it could change again as Barney gets into it.”

The first album in Barney’s EMI Records Group deal will be released at the end of this month. The purple reptile’s presence in the major record retailers will either have no effect on the rest of the market, Leib said, “or it could change the whole thing overnight” if a grandparent, for instance, is looking for a Barney recording “and goes into a record store for the first time and stays to see what else is there. Anything that raises the profile is good.”

How children’s music comes of age depends on a number of “ifs.” If national children’s radio proliferates as some think it might, traditional marketing channels will work and live artists would benefit. If a few artists are given regular TV exposure, or if the majors vigorously pursue specialty outlets and alternative strategies with mass merchants, it could mean more consumer awareness of the field in general, benefiting everyone.

Some are not waiting for ifs, however.

Distribution specialist Rincon is attempting to broaden the consumer base by exploring avenues outside the entertainment field.

Kathleen Bywater, formerly with Capitol Records, started her own business, Playground Entertainment Marketing, as a children’s audio and video consultant to the major labels. To create “product visibility and sales” she uses mailings, cross-promotions, telemarketing and other methods, including in-flight children’s audio programming for the airlines.

Tower Records might be the first to break out of the major record retailers’ unwillingness to provide shelf space for children’s music. It is taking tentative steps to develop its children’s sections by having select stores consult with Lovald at Silo “to create the right product mix,” said George Scarlett, merchandising manager for Tower’s record division.

When the stores “have the drill down, we can take what they’ve learned and spread it to the rest of the chain.”

Individual artists are finding their own way. Dan Crow said he is close to signing with another major label. Karan Bunin Huss, an artist with BMG Kidz’s Zoom Express, organized a sampler album with 36 artists for promotional use at the New Music Seminar and elsewhere, hoping for bookings.

Sharon, Lois and Bram, stars of “The Elephant Show” on Nickelodeon, left A&M; in order to create “efficient access to the product through more relevant channels of distribution,” said Stephen McNie, director of marketing for the trio’s Toronto-based Elephant Records company. The group’s plans include a major entry into the underexploited educational market.

The duo Greg & Steve, among the most successful yet lowest-profile acts in children’s music, shops its independent Youngheart Music Inc. label almost exclusively to educators. In 12 years, their sales have topped $2 million.

Independent Discovery Music, home to the near-platinum-selling Joanie Bartels, has gone from a garage operation in 1985 to a company with 20 employees on staff and hundreds of sales reps. “We’ve sold over 2 million units,” said Kim Pahoundis, Discovery’s vice president of marketing. Despite its new co-venture with BMG Kidz, Discovery will continue to follow its winning formula for success as it breaks new artists Dennis Hysom and Bethie: aggressive cross-promotion, grass-roots marketing and, above all, “patience.”

“We won’t put these artists out for a year and a half and say, ‘Well we gave them a shot.’ You have to take time to build the fan base. Once you have a fan and consumer base, you have a business,” Pahoundis said.

Peter Alsop, a veteran performer and expert in parenting and child psychology, is going the television infomercial route.

Barbara Simon, vice president in charge of the children’s division at the New York-based management company Brad Simon Organization Inc., is developing an “affordable” national tour circuit for its own and other children’s artists.

“I think somebody is going to find a way to get the product from here to there,” Leib said. “Remember, the whole industry as it stands today is only 2 years old. It’s younger than the people we’re trying to serve.”

Children’s Hits: The Tot 10

Here are the Top 10 audio recordings in the children’s music market, as tabulated by the Children’s Satellite Network’s “Radio AAHS,” for the week ending Aug. 6: Title: 1. “Wipeout” Artist: Animal Label: Jim Henson Records Distribution: BMG Kidz *Title: 2. “Will You Be There” Artist: Michael Jackson Label: Epic Distribution: Sony Music *Title: 3. “Super Mario Land” Artist: M.C. Mario Label: Warlock Distribution: Warlock *Title: 4. “P.A.R.T.Y.” Artist: Janet & Judy Label: Janet & Judy Distribution: Independent *Title: 5. “Hole in the Ozone” Artist: Bill Shontz Label: Lightyear Distribution: BMG Kidz *Title: 6. “Prince Ali” Artist: Robin Williams Label: Walt Disney Records Distribution: Walt Disney *Title: 7. “Eight Little Notes Artist: Rowlf the Dog Label: Jim Henson Records Distribution: BMG Kidz *Title: 8. “Little Miss Muffet” Artist: Mama Goose Label: MCA Distribution: MCA *Title: 9. “Red & Blue & Yellow Too” Artist: Cheech Marin Label: ODE 2 Kids Distribution: BMG Kidz *Title: 10. “Rock ‘n Toontown” Artist: Craig ‘n Co. Label: Walt Disney Records Distribution: Walt Disney