Kidz Bop, the music label that features kids singing hit songs, has teamed with Endemol and RCA/Jive for its second Kidz Star USA talent search.
Nixing the televised talent search setup for a more Web-centric format, kids 15 and younger will be able to submit performance clips to the Kidz Bop website, set up fan pages for their fave singers and chart their popularity before the pool is narrowed to four finalists.
Kid-focused site will be moderated throughout, to ensure that no inappropriate content goes live.
Last year’s first edition of the Web-based talent search pulled more than 35,000 video submissions.
This year, however, Kidz Bop has upped the ante by offering budding warblers a grand-prize recording contract with RCA/Jive.
Celeb judges, still unannounced, will mentor the finalists and help pick the winner.
Kidz Bop co-founder Cliff Chenfeld said the Kidz Star talent search is unique compared to others such as “American Idol,” where singers under 15 are barred.
“We are really focused on this younger age group,” Chenfeld said.
“RCA/Jive and Kidz Star are ideal partners for nurturing new musical artists discovered through this talent search that directly engages young music fans,” said Tom Corson, exec veep of RCA Music Group.
Competition has begun and will accept submissions until Aug. 15.
