OWTK Kindie Music News

A Kindie Question

The girls and I saw a kid’s concert this morning – a small affair at our local Barnes & Noble.

We’ve seen many a children’s performance so it’s strange that this thought hadn’t struck me before today:
Shouldn’t each and every kid’s musician who even remotely identifies themselves with #Kindie say, at the end of each and every one of their concerts, something to the affect of:

“There’s something exciting going on in kid’s music right now and I’m so happy to be a part of it.  If you love music, and you likely do because you’re here, there’s no better time to raise a family.  Google KINDIE and find out what all the buzz is about”.

Okay, that was first draft stuff but you get the point.  The biggest problem this cute little sub-genre of music has isn’t quality or diversity, it’s legitimacy.  Not enough folks – parents, magazine people, booking agents, etc. – take Kindie seriously yet.  It’s getting better, but there’s much progress still to be made.

I contend the flower on this bud will not start to fully bloom for another generation, when the children who grew up with TMBG “Here Come the ABC’s”, Dan Zanes “Rocket Ship Beach”, and Justin Roberts “Meltdown!” in their ears have children of their own.  This, I believe, is sorta what happened with indie rock.  The youngsters who grew up with Fugazi, Neutral Milk Hotel and Built to Spill grew up and got jobs.  They became influential cats in the world of marketing, advertising and business.  This natural progression played some role – I’d argue a big one – in legitimizing the oft angular, discordant, and odd world of college/alt/indie/whatever you want to call it/ music.  I mean, Marriott Courtyard uses Throw Me The Statue in their current TV ads…and it’s so freakin’ perfect!

In short, my theory goes like this: once the cool kindie kids who are between 9-13 now start families of their own, then this thang is gonna blow up.  Bands like The Verve Pipe getting involved certainly adds heavy artillery to the fight but still, we’ve likely got another decade or so to push the boundaries the hard way.  I’m in. You?

Anyhow, kindie musicians can help with some kind of simple statement during or after their sets.  Even if 1 adult leaves each show curious enough to poke around on ye olde internet and stumbles across Zooglobble, Spare the Rock, or dare I dream this very site you’re on now, and happens to give Flannery Brothers a spin, or Dog on Fleas a try…that’s a great, great thing.   And all it might take is a sentence or two to spread the word, share the love, and create a new devotee of Kindie.

Thoughts?

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