Something We’ve Lost: Cartoon Characters Releasing Albums

Do you remember them? Those albums featuring cartoon characters singing familiar and original songs in their wacky voices? They seem to have disappeared in recent times, but why?

There was a time when they were commonplace. Cheap vinyl records put out at an unfettered rate by studios to satisfy the hungry masses. Alvin and The Chipmunks is the most famous example, but there are many others from Disney, etc. Besides being a cheap (and profitable) novelty, they endeared kids to characters in an audible way outside of the visual programming of the cartoons themselves.
Time have changed though, and while Mickey Mouse still releases albums for preschoolers, any kid that’s graduated from that group has been left relatively high and dry, or to the mercy of tween stars and the top 40.
This is partly the reason for the decline in such records. Kids today don’t seem to have the same attachment to cartoons as their predecessors, and music seems to be one area in particular where the encroachment of the adult sector of the industry has seen fit to kill it off. Kidz Bop is still about, but they take adult hits and make them suitable for kids.
There are exceptions of course. Frozen (and Disney feature films in general) have long produced albums for the younger members of their audience. Yet such albums are almost always tied to an existing film. There doesn’t seem to be any appetite for releasing a standalone original album aling the lines of Simpsons Sing the Blues.