Peruvian American Family Artist Twinkle Time wants to know Why Latinos are NOT being REPRESENTED on KIDS PLACE LIVE ?!?
Where the Latinos at ???? Latinos are NOT being represented on "THE" one radio station for family artists.
Gonna get real... SUPER real .... I'm not just talking about LATINOS that do cultural music who immigrated from another country ..... I'm talking about LATINOS that are FIRST Generation Americans which we now call LATINX. Im speaking of Latinos that come in all shades, Latinos that are proud of their heritage and culture, Latinos whose first language is Spanish, Latinos who might happen to have green eyes, Latinos who might just have orange hair, Latinos who have a Valley Cali girl accent but can speak, read and write in Spanish cause that was their first language,Latinos who not only love music that represent their roots but also Latinos that love music thats authentic to them ; POP, R&B, Dance, EDM, HIP HOP, ROCK, COUNTRY ETC ... Where is the rule or law that Latinos can only do music thats cultural? Where are the Latinos who do quality content for kids and families? These LATINX artists are NOT being included on the one radio station KIDS PLACE LIVE that actually puts some real money in the artists pockets for the artists creativity, sacrifice, blood, sweat and tears.
According to 2018 census Latinos make up 60 million people in the United States. In 2020 the percentage of Latinos living in the United States is 21 % of the population and growing AND Hispanics are the third largest minority in DC where Kids Place Live offices are located.
Those that know me, know I've been in show biz as a working professional my whole life and as you know being in show biz "they" always want you to fit in a box .... in a nut shell, I've had to work doubly hard! I've always wished I looked like the stereo type of what Latinos are apparently "supposed to" look like cause my path may have been soooooo much easier but being a first generation Peruvian/ Romanian/ American I always had to walk to the beat of my own drum. With that being said diversity topics have been a topic my entire life. My Latino friends in show biz know the walls we've all had to break down over the years but never in 2021 did I feel I still would be once again bringing this topic up in the family world. The fact I still have to explain till I'm blue in the face that Latinos come in ALL shades and we just don't do cultural music is quite taxing and feels especially tiresome when its not being heard and ALWAYS being dismissed by the gatekeepers! Soooo are they really inclusive? The proof is quite elusive!
For those just getting to know me ..I'm a billboard charting, gold record recipient from mainstream pop world once being signed to Hollywood Records/ Disney as a lead singer in a pop girl band .Most recently for the last 10 years I've dedicated my life to being an indie family artist inspiring kids of all ages to be accepting of all walks of life, being the best humans ever and uniting all through music and doing it bilingüe style en los dos idiomas with sensitivity.
I've combed over KPL's Weekly Top 13 Weekend Countdown songs dating all the way back to September of 2019 the lack of diversity in artists was embarrassing but most importantly the lack of diversity in children's music genre was shall we say..... DISMAL!
Let me break it down :
From Sept to Dec 2019 only one Latina was played for 3 weeks in the month of October with a Halloween song
Jan 2020- Zero Latinos
Feb 2020 - Zero Latinos
March 2020 -Zero Latinos
April 2020 - Zero Latinos
May 2020 Same Latina that they played in Oct, they played only one weekend. I released a song in English and Spanish May of 2020 which ended up winning songwriting awards message about UNITY - Hope and keeping faith that we're all gonna get through this together and NO KPL love.
June 2020- Zero Latinos
July NO postings
August NO postings
September NO postings
October week one- one Latino Artist who did a Collab
week two- SAME Latino Artist who did a Collab
week three - Latina artist from may & october of 2019 with another Halloween song
November - Zero Latinos
December week one Zero Latinos
week two -Same Latino Artist from first two weeks of Oct with FELIZ NAVIDAD which was also a Collab ....REALLY.. Que...Como? That's all you got!
Jan 2020- Zero Latinos
Feb- 2020 - Zero Latinos
Soooooo ,basically from this list dating back to September 2019 the same 2 latinos were barley played and only one as a stand alone artist the other artist had to do a collab to be played BUT most importantly these are NOT the ONLY 2 LATINO /BILINGUAL artists in the family space we are many more!
What I did notice is that KPL's previous head of programming, now the head of A&R for a new children's record label, all the artists signed to this new label are now getting all the radio love. Also apparent those that write and produce music for one of the on air hosts and radio programmers get radio love and if you are a radio host on KPL you also get radio love then the rest of the music for the most part is soundtracks or music that KIDS do not listen to ... PERIOD !
I've submitted my music to KIDS PLACE LIVE for a decade with no LOVE I do know from being in this industry that its always the gatekeepers "opinion" of what they think is good and that goes for anything in this industry but I have never even received any feedback from KPL just radio silence in the last decade. In 2020 in a year where all touring artists lost their entire livelihood the one thing that kept artists alive was using what GOD gave them.... their talent and creativity sooo this past year 2020 I resubmitted new material this time receiving feedback WHOA! STOP THE PRESS!! THAT'S A START!! LOL Maybe NEW management ? Maybe new programmers? Im going to share the feedback from an email I wrote to KPL
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My email sent to KPL
I was wondering if you had a chance to download and listen for consideration for the KPL line up?
I would really love some feedback you can email me personally as I'm in charge of my own career and destiny and have been since day one...so would really love to know ...what's KPL's process on choosing songs? What's the format or standard? That way, I can write a song specifically to meet KPL standards.
I've written some pretty great songs, 3 of which I've listed... not just me, but peers and followers a like would really love to know! You ask your listeners to request their favorite songs online...my followers have requested my songs on line and on your social platforms and still no love. I'm super professional as Ive been in this industry as a working professional since I was 5 yrs old. I know the smoke and mirrors in this game yet after 10 years of being a successful touring indie family artist and getting no KPL radio love Im still bringing the pot of gold to the end of this rainbow.
Look forward to hearing from you soon,
Twinkle
1)Together 58K views on YT Feedback ("Too long of a song for the station") -
That's actually a quick fix I can re send you a radio edit ....let me know ,its still very relevant.
Unidos - 49K views on YT "Winner of USA Songwriting Competition Best LATIN SONG OF 2020"*
Message of Songs - Unity- Bringing it Together.
2) Mask it Up/ Mascára
Feedback "KPL already plays a mask song that our audience loves SO it has to be better than the current song being played"
Mask it Up by Twinkle Time- 2,781 views on YT video released 1 month ago
*Current Mask Song played on KPL- only has 1,100views on YT out since November that's with KPL radio play and 2 artists promoting the song. I'm one person and NO KPL radio play!
Mascára 1,385 views on YT released one month ago
I can send you the Spanish version of Mascára if you don't have it. I know your listeners haven't heard a mask song in Spanish. I'm pretty positive you have bilingual listeners and me being LATINX first generation American it would be a cool addition and definitely the first mask song in Español on KPL and would be super inclusive for your station.
3) LOVE or LOVE en Español
Third Single off upcoming 4th Album and first ALL Spanish Album I present LOVE or Love en Español. KPL has two options and I could always throw in a "bilingual version" exclusively for your KPL listeners thats an easy fix!
My song LOVE isn't just for valentines day weekend but for every day of the year
"A word that needs to be sung and heard all over the world !" - A message of unity across the globe- uniting all through music.
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So let me break down my email since I still haven't heard back from KPL
My song -Together and or Unidos is 4min 20 seconds long so their line about being too long is hog wash cause they played Hamilton Polka by Weird Al Yankovic numerous times and that song BE a WHOP'N 5 min and 1 second long. Whaaaaat thats a LONG song, we're taking it back to the 70's!
Mask it Up/ Mascára
THIS is in quotes feedback from KPL feedback given before songs were downloaded and actually to be transparent songs were NEVER downloaded !
"I’ll tell you right now before I even open it though, the market has been so flooded with “Mask” songs, that even though the message is clearly still necessary in day to day life that doesn’t mean that it’s a fresh idea for a song on the radio that listeners will get excited to hear. It would really have to be a home run to rise above the rest when the idea has been played out. For example, we hear about 1000 songs about Cats, so if someone writes a new song about a cat it’s gotta be able to compete with the reigning champion “cat” song that our listeners want to hear all the time."- KPL
and as you can see from up above looks like I'm competing with the reigning champion so if numbers don't lie .....I think I won ........ JUST SAYING !!! AND to all songwriters and artists..... GIVE UP NOW.... they already have all their reigning champion songs they don't need anymore apparently LOL !
Love and Love en Español
Release of my song was Friday Feb 12th
Sent out a press release with downloadable links to KPL -Feb 1
17 days later my song was downloaded and still never played but KPL'S Favorite Grammy Artist/Producer has a song called LOVE that they played for 3 weeks in February so I guess that knocked my song LOVE out of the running, even though I have the same song in Español. The irony is this grammy nominated artist was nominated this year for a children's grammy and turned down his nomination to uplift and highlight BIPOC artists yet is still on these radio lists making money while Latinos were not played in the month of February.
SO.. in conclusion I might be the lone flamingo outwardly speaking up on this matter but after a decade of not being played on KPL I really feel like there needs to be.....
Change/ Hay que Cambiar! !!!
XOXO,
Twinkle