•
That's
Entertainment!
Jewish music tapes, CDs and videos for adults
and children are booming. MELINDA GREENBERG SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
motions firm for children's
technologically advanced
music, said, "People are
medium for music repro-
looking for quality music
duction that replaced the
and today that's available
cassette awhile ago.
within a Jewish context."
Jewish companies are of-
Aderet Music's Mr.
ten slow to introduce new
Klein concurred. "The Jew-
formats for fear of risking
ish children's market is
too much money on items
beautiful. There are many
like Beta tapes and eight-
wonderful music tapes and
tracks, both of which went
videos for children," he
the way of the dinosaurs.
said.
"When it's new and very ex-
According to Howard
pensive, it's too prohibitive
Leib,
a New York attorney
for an ethnic market," said
who last year started the
Sallie Abelson, president of
Children's Entertainment
Contemporary Designs, an
Association, a trade asso-
Iowa company that makes
ciation for entertainers, the
and distributes Jewish
Jewish market has long of-
items.
fered quality entertain-
But CDs have proven
ment for children.
their staying power. In-
"Jewish music has al-
deed, the mainstream mar-
ways been a niche part of
ket is saturated with them,
kids' music," said Mr. Leib,
and they're just starting to
himself the father of two
take off in the Jewish mar-
young children. "None of
ket. "Last year, we didn't
the major record compa-
get a single call about CDs.
nies produces religious mu-
This year, people are ask-
sic but there are quite a few
ing for them," said Ms.
independents putting out
Abelson.
good stuff"
Her company isn't the
Singers like Cindy Pa-
only one noticing the CD
ley, Karen Golden and
demand. She commented
Debbie Friedman are often
that one supplier reported
cited as the top performers
selling five to six times as
in the Jewish children's
many GDs this year as he
market. Mainstream per-
did last year.
formers Sharon, Lois and
Mr. Strauss agrees. His
Bram recently released a
catalog, "The Source For
Chanukah tape called
Everything Jewish," which
"Candles Long Ago," on
he estimates has reached
which they perform
some 12 million homes in
Chanukah-themed music.
the last eight years, cur-
Mr. Leib has no figures
rently features three pages
for children's music sales,
of Jewish music on CD.
but he said that over the
These range from cantori-
past decade the children's
al and Israeli folk music to
PHOTO BY CRAIG TERKOWITZ market has become in-
pop singer Connie Francis' Popular Jewish videos are sold at local Judaica stores
creasingly attractive to per-
interpretation of Yiddish
Sandy Shmuley is "dynamic," said formers.
Mr.
Klein
also
noted
a
change
songs in its current holiday edi-
in the music itself, which has ac- Mr. Klein, producing a mix of Cha-
"Ten years ago, the whole chil-
tion.
sidic and Israeli music. Newcom- dren's music market was folk-mu-
quired
an
updated
'90s
beat
that
"Four years ago, we probably
ers Shlomo Simcha, Dedi and sic based. Five or six years ago,
sold 10 CDs for every 100 cas- broadens its appeal.
Yeedle (Mordechai Ben-David's Raffi [an immensely popular per-
"You
have
a
real
blend
of
Cha-
settes," said Mr. Strauss. "That's
sidic and modern music available son) had popular debut albums former for children] pulled other
definitely changed."
today,"
said Mr. Klein. "There is a and have recently released follow- major performers into the market.
Mendy Klein, general manager
style
for
the very religious and the up albums.
He did it with no radio play, no
of Aderet Music Corporation, a
Music for children is a booming marketing and no support. He
less
religious
customer."
LU
Brooklyn, N.Y.-based distributor
=
Mr. Klein named singer part of the Jewish music market. spent 13 years becoming an
ofJewish and Israeli music and
,-- Jewish Music
Mordechai
Ben-David, an Ameri- Pamela Benjamin, owner of overnight success," Mr. Leib said.
What's a surefire sign of suc- videos, said he has seen 90 percent
can
Chasid,
as the most popular Rockin Baby Boomers, a Las Ve-
Today, children's Jewish music,
ofJewish
artists
switch
to
CDs
in
cess? Jewish music has finally
Jewish
artist
today. Israeli singer gas, Nev., independent record pro- like adult Jewish music, is quite
made it onto compact disk, the the last two years.
T
en years ago, you
would have been
hard pressed to find
a selection ofJewish
video tapes and au-
dio cassettes. The
market was too
small to meet the
high costs of production, said in-
dustry insider Hershel Strauss.
But that picture has changed,
continued Mr. Strauss, an or-
dained rabbi who started
Hamakor Judaica, the 21-year-old
Chicago mail-order company
which puts out "The "Source For
Everything Jewish" catalog.
It's been a slow process but to-
day, Jewish consumers can find a
selection of videos and music for
both adults and children. Mr.
Strauss estimates current annu-
al sales at about $8 million for mu-
sic tapes and slightly over $1
million for videos.
Still, he said, "The Jewish mar-
ket has its limits."
To put those figures in context,
consider this. In the mainstream
music market for 1993, CD sales.
accounted for $6.5 billion annual-
ly, according to the Recording In-
dustry Association of America, Inc.
Video sales and rentals for that
same year totaled $12.8 billion an-
nually, of which $5.2 billion went
for sales, reported Video Store
Magazine, a trade publication.
Although the Jewish music and
video market is tiny by compari-
son, it does contain an interesting
footnote. Mainstream children's
artists are now recording Jewish
music collections. •
Moreover, the first nationally
released Chanukah video for chil-
dren, produced by the makers of
• LU the widely popular "Baby Songs"
videos for preschoolers, hits the
=
shelves of stores like K-Mart and
cf)
Target this year.
,..0 Mr. Strauss confirmed the
' 1--- trend, saying that "there's been a
—
c) renaissance of old material and
cc the introduction of mainstream
I LL: performers into the Jewish music
c" market."
—
GO
.