Columbia Records’ Jam Jr. Promotes Youth Music Education, Experiences

Families around the world have a new opportunity to make the most of learning at home. In partnership with Columbia Records, a division of Sony Music Entertainment, Jam Jr. recently fast-tracked production to become the world’s first social influencer-driven, family-friendly music series. With more than 50 million social media followers and more than 12 million YouTube views combined, Jam Jr. artists are promoting music as an entry point to youth learning and “first” live event experiences. 

“We wanted to create compelling content and felt that there was an opportunity to leverage what Columbia Records does really well, but do it for a younger audience,” says Ryan Ruden, senior vice president of experiential marketing and business development at Columbia Records, who was inspired by the unique ways in which his own two children consume music. “Our goal was to value and appreciate the youth audience and elevate content for them globally.”

Jam Jr. is a free, parent-approved weekly showcase of young pop artists targeted at youth ages 7-14-years-old. The new series was designed to complement Jam Jr. live touring, originally scheduled to take place this summer but now cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Despite the tour cancellation, Ruden says that the series continues to grow in popularity through partnerships with existing brands like Walmart
WMT
, popular youth retailer Justice and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Additional major collaborations will be announced this summer, while a full album and deluxe Christmas record will drop this fall. 

Testing for Jam Jr. began with a Christmas music album released in December of 2018. The response was positive, and focus then shifted to developing exclusive content and new releases produced by an expanding group of mega TikTok influencers like Gavin Magnus with his cover of Justin Bieber’s “Changes” and U.K. pop singer Sapphire with her cover of “Lights Up” by Harry Styles. Influencer power, combined with the recent bump in on-demand children’s music streaming during the pandemic, positions Jam Jr. to become the leading kids music brand of the future.

Available on Amazon Music, Apple Music, Google Play, iHeart Radio, iTunes, Spotify, YouTube, Instagram and TikTok, Jam Jr. content features both modern and classic pop song covers, music education episodes and behind-the-scenes videos. The brand’s expanding evergreen library will include both long and short-form content. 

Influencers, chosen by individual level of social engagement and quality of messaging, narrate Jam Jr. music education segments to inspire a love for music in children and help them experience their “first” live music events. Lessons focus on introductory concepts like melody, harmony, chorus, tempo, rhythm and beat. Topics also extend to song form, key signature, dynamics and expressive techniques. 

Given the unique ways in which today’s youth consume music, Ruden chose to collaborate with award-winning digital entrepreneur, DigiTour founder and best-selling author Meridith Rojas, who is now Jam Jr.’s independent brand strategist. The duo managed to complete three months of content production in three weeks. 

“We have been taking this time to just dial down and produce more content,” says Rojas, who explained that content is being produced without production crews in respect to social distancing orders. “The audience is falling in love with the brand through its digital content–we’re trying to be a bit disruptive, which is difficult in today’s market, but the ingredients we have are setting us up for success.”

Ruden and Rojas are working with the National Association for Music Education (NAfME) to bring Jam Jr. educational content directly into schools nationwide. Jam Jr. also maintains an exclusive partnership with the Grammy Music Education Coalition (GMEC) to ensure that the series is connected to American music education standards.

“From my perspective, if you want to get kids into music learning, it has to be relevant,” says Lee Whitmore, executive director of GMEC. “Our project connects incredible music to real music learning, like for songwriting. It’s fun, real learning that can be used in school and later in life.”