Kindie rock is a style of children's music that “melds the sensibility of the singer-songwriter with themes aimed at kids under 10.” Many popular kindie rock artists first gained fame as adult performers, including Dan Zanes and They Might Be Giants. The term was first coined by Salon.com writer Scott Lamb in 2006, and has gained in popularity since. Although its original name implies a rock music style, kindie has never been purely rock music, instead encompassing innumerable musical styles. In recent years, artists have increasingly used the less specific term "kindie music" or "kindie." Playtime Playlist, a kindie directory website, notes that the term kindie “comes from merging of ‘Kid’ and ‘Independent’” and that kindie is differentiated from conventional children's music by the way that “artists are free to make music that comes straight from their heart and isn’t bound by commercial formulaic rules.” As pointed out by Stefan Shepard of the kindie music blog Zooglobble, kindie artists' primary aim is to make child-oriented music with the same care and thought as adult music. It is also defined by its opposition to "mainstream" or commercial children's music. Community is also an important part of the modern kindie scene, as exemplified by the biannual Kindiecomm conference and the yearly Hootenanny gathering.
History
Pre-1970s
If one takes the precepts of Stefan Shepard's as a working definition for kindie music, then it is clear that kindie has existed since at least the early 20th century, with folk singers such as Lead Belly and Woody Guthrie performing and writing many children's songs throughout their career. Music hall was also a source of children's music in the past, but folk singers remained the main proponents of independent kids' music throughout the early to mid 20th century. Jim Copp and Ed Brown were an exception to this rule, with their many quirky keyboard-based albums throughout the 1950s and '60s influencing numerous artists in the years to come.
1970s–1990s
During the 1970s, ‘80s and ‘90s, the field of music for children became more popular in the 1970s and '80s, due largely to the advent of music-based children's television shows such as The Bugaloos and Sesame Street. Artists who were separate from television also proliferated, with Canadian Raffi selling millions of albums, while other artists such as Barry Louis Polisar gained popularity and toured widely. Many other artists who still perform for children today began performing in the 1980s and '90s, including Bill Harley and Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer.
In 1998 and 2000, respectively, Laurie Berkner and Dan Zanes self-released their debut kids' albums and are generally considered to have kickstarted the modern kindie movement. Although the children's music industry had been growing in the 1990s, with the digital age it became easier for children to gain access to media and for independent artists to promote their work. Over the first two decades of the 21st century, the number and recognition of artists making kindie music grew exponentially, becoming more mainstream.
A fixture of modern kindie music is its community-centered ethos, as evidenced by the great amount of collaborations between kindie artists. There are also three important organizations and conferences that serve to further the communal and collaborative aspect of the industry.
Kindiecomm
Begun as an annual conference, but since moved to a biennial status, Kindiecomm is one of the main conferences for kindie musicians and was formed by Kathy O'Connell and Robert Drake of WXPN's Kids Corner radio show in 2013 "to capture the camaraderie and creativity of our musical family, while sharing useful information in an intimate setting."
Predating the modern kindie movement, the Children's Music Network was founded in 1987 as a way of perpetuating and supporting children's music. In many ways, the industry support pioneered by the Children's Music Network has continued into the modern era.
Others
Although kindie as a named genre is centered in the United States, other countries and regions have similar national children's music associations and conferences, notably the Kiwi Kids Music association from New Zealand and Movimiento Canción Infantil Latinoamericana y Caribeña, a biannual meeting which gathers children's music artists from all over Latin America.
Media support
Blogs
The kindie movement has received much support from blogs based on reviewing and discussing kindie music, most notably Zooglobble, which was founded in 2002.
Radio shows and podcasts
There are numerous radio shows and podcasts that mainly feature kindie music, some of the most prominent of which are Kids Corner on WXPN in Philadelphia, Spare the Rock on KUTX and the OWTK Kid's Music Monthly Podcast.Most of the existing kindie-based radio shows and podcasts have a music-based freeform radio format, although some, like Kids Corner, adopt more of an education-based, variety show format. In addition, the majority of kindie radio shows are based in public or community radio stations, although Sirius XM's Kids Place Live also features many kindie artists.
International kindie music
Although the majority of bands who call themselves "kindie" are from North America, there exists a large amount of kindie-esque music from around the world. If one looks solely at music that is created by non-anonymous musicians who use sophisticated musical styles, it is possible to view many artists from different cultures as fitting into the kindie realm. Most of the prominent kids' musicians from around the world use European-influenced music styles, although many artists from Latin America include locally influenced music as well.
Latin America
There are many different children's music scenes throughout Latin America, encompassing Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, and Mexico, to name some of the most prominent. A notable feature of Latin American kindie music, unlike artists from the United States, Europe, or Oceania, is the prevalence of musical theater as a format for their concerts.
Oceania
Australia has a popular and internationally recognized kindie scene, although there are not as many artists in Australia as in other countries. There are also many artists from New Zealand, which are gaining international recognition in both hemispheres.
