“When we joined up with BuildFire, things were really smooth right from the jump. The process was really seamless. Everything from preparing designs to the wireframes and navigation, it just felt really effortless.”

Kidz Bop is the number one music brand for kids in the United States. Since launching in 2001, the company has sold 18+ million albums and generated 1.3+ billion streams worldwide. 

The concept of Kidz Bop is simple—kids sing covers of today’s biggest hits.  

Craig Balsam and Cliff Chenfeld, the brand’s founders, recognized a huge opportunity in the children’s music space while putting together songs for kid’s birthday parties. The duo had previously founded a record label back in 1990, called Razor & Tie. After realizing that there wasn’t much new music being created specifically for kids, the idea for Kidz Bop was born. 

Kidz Bop became an instant success. They’ve had 24 Top 10 debuts on the Billboard 200 charts. The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, and Barbara Streisand are the only artists with more Top 10 albums. 

Today, the brand continues to release songs, albums, and music videos. Their music is available on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and other digital streaming services.

The brand’s success hasn’t stopped them from expanding. 

In addition to making albums and selling music, they also go on concert tours. But the tours weren’t perfect, and the company recognized the need for improvement. The team brainstormed ways to solve their problems.

“Kidz Bop really decided that we needed an app,” explains Rob Decker, the Senior Director of Marketing at Kidz Bop. “About three years ago, we saw a need specifically around our Kidz Bop Tour.”

Decker continues to say that the brand needed a better method to communicate with its core fan base—parents of kids attending the concerts. 

“We want a way to make sure that we’re communicating about future tour dates and let them engage with the brand every day outside of the tour to keep that brand love going 365 days a year.”

It was determined that creating a mobile app would be the best way to address those needs.

In order to build an app, Kidz Bop needed a platform for development, which is where BuildFire comes into the picture. 

As the marketing director, the bulk of the workload fell on Rob’s shoulders. He says the development process began with an onboarding call. 

“We walked through what our goals were with the app, what we wanted to achieve, where we wanted to be with it, and how we wanted it to look and feel. BuildFire was really able to listen and assess our needs, and nail the build really quickly.”

Rob continues to convey that he’s had an excellent experience managing the app post-launch.

“I’m really appreciating the dashboard and all of the various widgets and ways that you can customize your app even after it’s launched, adding sections and features.”

As for troubleshooting and support, Rob has had nothing but positive experiences, especially for someone who prefers a DIY approach.

“My experience with post-launch support once our app was live has really been pretty effortless. I’ve found that there’s a good searchable knowledge base of FAQs. I try to search for the answer before I reach out to the customer support rep. Lots of times, I’m able to find those answers right away. But in instances where I haven’t, the BuildFire team has been super responsive to any of our customer support needs.”

It’s safe to say that the Kidz Bop Live app has already made an impact. Rob says that they’re getting thousands of new app installs every month. 

“We’ve had a great response to the Kidz Bop app.”

He continues to explain that the app is seeing great organic growth.

Moving forward, Kidz Bop plans to use the app to connect and communicate with fans. They plan to incorporate new features, including in-app experiences at the live shows. The idea is to help enhance the fans’ experience right at the venues. 

The app has been especially helpful during the recent global pandemic. “Right now, the most used feature in our app is the video section. People are looking for a way to find and consume our content,” Rob says. “While fans are stuck at home, they’re looking for some entertainment.”

Overall, the app itself and the development experience have gone according to plan. The mobile presence is helping Kidz Bop reach their fans while providing room for growth in the future. 

“I’d definitely recommend BuildFire. I’ve really appreciated the fact that the tool is easy to use, and it’s really intuitive. Though the onboarding process, I really appreciated the transparency in pricing and knew exactly what we were going to get right from the jump.”