Republic Records is taking the leap into kids play.
Announced today (Aug. 22), the New York City–based record label expands with its new Kids & Family Division, which will be active in signing, developing and releasing “family-friendly” projects.
Republic Records: Kids & Family is steered by Bree Bowles, vp of marketing and strategy, who joins the company with a resume packed with children’s entertainment experience both in the United States and Australia.
Bowles boasts 15 years with executive positions at Nickelodeon and Disney and, most recently, overseeing marketing and operations at Dayglo Presents, under live music entrepreneur Peter Shapiro.
“Our mission is simple: produce world-class music that can be enjoyed by both kids and their parents, creating invaluable moments to connect in what is a distracted world,” comments Bowles, with the announcement of the new venture.
“We are first and foremost building a label that is trusted by parents, but we are focused on developing new IP, driving innovation, and exploring what is possible,” she continues. “Our team is excited, our artists are excited, and we hope the little fans will love the new music as much as we do. Kids are the future, which means kids are also the future of music.”
Republic Records is owned by Universal Music Group, and led by co-presidents Jim Roppo and Wendy Goldstein.
“We’ve always wanted to do a children’s label. Family is everything to us,” Roppo enthuses. “I am a dad before anything else. We finally found the perfect partner and an incredible executive, Bree, to bring this venture to life with quality, family-friendly, and fun music.”
Republic Records: Kids & Family launched last Friday, Aug. 19. “Major releases and partnerships” will be announced soon, reps say.
Kids entertainment is a big business. A Deep Dive by Billboard found that kids entertainment accounting for low single percentage of the U.S. recorded music market in 2020 – a number that appears to be growing.
According to available data, Disney was the runaway leader with over 52% of the kid’s market in the first quarter of 2020. On the other side of the globe, Australia’s The Wiggles this year collected a first No. 1 album on the all-genre ARIA Chart, and the much-loved act ruled the nationwide Triple J Hottest 100 countdown for the first time.