Promoters Dana Millman-DuFine and David Codikow have both made their mark in the music industry, working with well-known rockers Beastie Boys, Outkast, Dave Mathews and Velvet Revolver.

The acts they’re promoting now are just as crazy and loud, and someday, they could be nearly as hot on the concert circuit providing the fans get their parents’ OK to skip their naps.

Millman-DuFine and Codikow’s Hollywood business, Highland LLC, is tapping into the tiny but increasingly mighty 2-to-7-year-old demographic with “Jamarama Live!” It’s the first national touring children’s music festival a sort of Lollapalooza for the preschool set, with milk and juice boxes instead of beer and Jagermeister.

“The biggest difference is the height of the audience,” laughed Millman-DuFine, “There are little mosh pits in the very front, dads with kids on their shoulders.”

The tour debuted last fall on the East Coast, with five shows in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. Every show sold out, drawing crowds of roughly 3,000 kids and parents, so Highland booked 12 additional venues on West Coast. The festival has shows booked this month in Boston and Philadelphia.

Over the course of their careers, the two L.A. movers and shakers have worked as music managers, produced motion picture soundtracks, marketed and promoted artists, founded a music law firm and created several successful music concert tours.

They are using all that expertise, and their connections, to get this show on the road.

To launch Jamarama, they’ve partnered with Viacom Inc.’s Noggin, the educational channel for preschoolers, as a sponsor of the tour. Talent powerhouse Creative Artists Agency is handling all tour bookings, and Dean Gelfand’s MGR Entertainment Inc. is in charge of merchandise a cornucopia of kid stuff, from shirts and scarves to glow sticks and coloring books. My Gym Enterprises is also promoting the tour at its 150 locations and on its Web site.

Selling the show

Promotion is a problem. Adults without kids and even some with have probably never heard of the acts that are on board: Laurie Berkner, the Milkshakes and Buck Howdy among them.

“It’s always a challenge to get the music out there; like any type of music tour, the hard part is letting people know there’s an act or new album out there and that we will be in town,” Millman-DuFine said. “You are catering to an audience that doesn’t buy their own tickets.” Tickets range from $20 to $40, and everybody even the 2-year-olds has to pay.

Some of the performers have roots similar to Millman-DuFine and Codikow. Jamarama acts Dan Zanes & Friends and Farmer Jason are both former rockers who moved into children’s music when they had families of their own.

An hour of interactive activities face painting, kids’ karaoke, storytelling and My Gym tumbling in the venue lobby precedes the musical portion of the family extravaganza. The concert itself runs about 75 minutes and typically features three or four of the acts.

“It’s a very healthy market think of Ringling Bros, Disney on Ice and Barney, which have all done surprising business in that space,” said Gary Bongiovanni, founder and editor in chief of Pollstar USA, a concert tracking publication. “It’s a legit market; family shows for preschool or young kids.”

The preschool set is emerging as a genuine marketing demographic. A proliferation of programming on kiddie cable networks is helping to make that a reality.

Besides Nickelodeon and the Disney Channel the big kids on cable’s preschool playground Discover Kids, TLC, Cartoon Network and PBS Kids Sprout are developing an array of new shows and Web content for the juice-box generation of 2- to 5-year-olds.

The numbers game

Financially, Millman-DuFine said the going has been tough Jamarama broke even first leg of the tour, came close on the second part of it on the West Coast and is hoping to actually make money with the upcoming leg.

Camarillo-based Goldhil Entertainment, a producer and distributor of educational and fitness content, just put out 25,000 DVDs of the first leg of the tour through retailers including Amazon.com, with more in production already. There is a CD in the works too, for sometime next year, a compilation of the tour hits.

Millman-DuFine and Codikow were able to pay for the first tour by taking advances on the DVD sales and merchandise sales. To improve the financial outlook and marketing reach, they are actively seeking sponsors and they are in talks with one major retailer and a cereal brand.

“It’s probably a good arena for commercial tie-ins, too,” Bongiovanni said. “There’s definitely money to be made.”