October 27, 2009

By By Kenneth Hein, N.Y.

In an effort to expand its kids' offering, Zune has partnered with Kidz Bop, a division of indie label Razor & Tie, for a five-week promotion. Beginning today, the kids' genre within the Zune Marketplace has been rebranded Kidz Bop. Here, consumers can download tracks from the Kidz Bop catalog as well as a free weekly track.

Free downloads include the Ghostbusters theme song for Halloween week, "Here Comes the Sun" to promote the Nov. 10 debut of Kidz Bop Sings the Beatles and Sinai Rose's cover of the Jackson 5's "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" from the Kidz Bop Christmas CD which is already in stores.

Kidz Bop has created five exclusive EP's (Black Eyed Peas, Daughtry, Rihanna, Sean Kingston and Taylor Swift) and three Kidz Bop Gold Hits compilations for Zune. The EP's range from $1.99 to $3.99 and the hits packages are $5.99 each.

Liz Nealon, GM of Kidz Bop, said she hopes the partnership will help teach kids ages five to 12 about downloading music "since the kids business tends to be more physical than digital." Zune will be promoted at Kidzbop.com as well as via "Super Contest Maker." Details of the contest have yet to be finalized.

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