Tapping into children's tunes

Discount Store News, May 5, 1997

Merchandising children's audio isn't kid stuff.

With the offspring of the Baby Boom generation currently making their way through childhood, a potentially huge audience exists for children's audio.

Marketing to families, combined with new merchandising techniques such as listening stations, could help increase children's audio sales.

"A lot of the music that's coming out now is really family music" said Barry Hafft, vice president of sales at Walt Disney Records. "Your kids like it and so do you."

The statistical foot prints of the Baby Boomlet may be showing up in some recently published industry market research.

During 1996, a year when overall music sales were virtually fat, sales of children's music reached its highest level in 10 years, according to the Recording Industry Association of America.

Nearly half of all music buyers are of family-building age, with 47% of all active consumers between 21 to 44, according to the Soundata National Consumer Music Study published in March by the National Association of Recording Merchandisers. By comparison, adolescents 12 to 18 account for just 18% of all music consumers.

Mass merchants and superstores have gained a much larger share of the overall music sales market during the past decade and could become the catalysts for growth in kid's audio sales.

RIAA statistics show that overall audio sales have been migrating to mass merchants for the past decade. A survey conducted last year for the RIAA by Chilton Research found that 31.5% of consumers bought records in mass merchants and audio/video superstore outlets, compared with 21.7% in 1987.

During the same period, record stores' market share declined from 65% in 1987 to slightly less than 50% of the overall sales market in 1996, according to RIAA figures.

In the early 1990s, a number of major entertainment companies rushed into the children's audio market. The market quickly became saturated and many companies pulled back from the genre. But now a few strong players, armed with high-profile brands, are beefing up their kid's audio offerings.

The increasing size of the current audio release slates of some children's record labels is in itself another sign of the category's improving health.

Industry leader Walt Disney Records has about two dozen titles planned for 1997.

A sampling of Disney's release slate includes a new album, aimed at both kids and adults, of country artists performing patriotic songs that will be released July 4.

The label's numerous kid-targeted releases include a trio of "Star Wars" read-along titles, one for each of the trilogy's movies. Disney is also re-releasing digitally remastered original soundtracks from "Bambi," "Cinderella" and "Sleeping Beauty."

"It's the first time these (soundtracks) have been available on CD." Hafft said.

A number of other Disney soundtracks are also due out this year, including the soundtrack from Tim Allen's "Jungle 2 Jungle," which has a worldbeat sound and a single, "Straight To The Heart" by Maxi Priest. The release slate also includes "Mother Goose Sing-Along," with Disney characters performing spoken parts, and a celebrity Christmas carol compilation.

Kid Rhino, another leading children's label, is releasing more titles in 1997, with 22 releases compared to 17 in 1996.

The Kid Rhino release slate includes titles that will be cross-promoted with both major films such as "Batman and Robin" and a new audio line bearing the Fisher-Price brand. Also due out in May from Kid Rhino is the "Warriors Of Virtue" soundtrack that includes performers such as Clannad, Vangelis, Speech and former Grateful Dead member Mickey Hart.

Lyrick Studios, the producer of Barney and Wishbone, recently launched its own record label, Barney Music.

Lyrick Studio's executives, as well as those at some other major entertainment companies, think that children's audio offers tremendous potential if given the right merchandising push, said Debbie Rees, vice president of sales at Lyrick Studios.

The label's first release, a Barney sign-along, debuted at No. 3 on the children's record charts. "Barney's Big Surprise," which streets May 13, will be the label's second release and a number of other titles will follow, including titles from Joe Scruggs, a children's recording artist signed to Barney Music.

In terms of growing sales of kid's audio, "the mass market, for us, offers the most potential, and grocery is also a good target," Rees said.

Some mass retailers are making efforts to more creatively merchandise children's audio.

Retailers are also taking children's audio into new areas of the store, with cross-promotions becoming more evident at Wal-Mart, Kmart and Target, as well as at specialists such as Toys "R" Us.

Target, for example, dedicates 8 ft. to children's audio in each of its stores and continually updates its selections, which are heavy on Disney products.

This spring Target stores brought children's audio out of its home location in audio and merchandised it on one side of the four-way racks that face the central racetrack.