I keep hearing bad rumors that Rhino/WB is going to be history in a few weeks...

This is indeed bad news.

I wonder what would happen to all of the upcoming reissues (Yes, Black Sabbath come to mind).

 

I also hope that those who get released find a job soon. They have families to support!

 

WB here in town has been cleaning house for the last month. Warner Chappell, the publishing side, has discontinued all co-ventures except one.

I also heard that RCA will fall under the Sony heading really soon. I guess this is old news though.

 

Just got an email earlier today from Rhino handmade about a Peggy Lee collection. It's gone now, due to auto updates on my computer, but it would be sad, very sad, to see Rhino go.

 

Isn't Rhino basically the only unit of Warner making any money? I know WEA has been letting people go piecemeal for awhile (such as local warehouse folks in geographies, etc.).

Makes me think back to when I was reading Stan Cornyn's Exploding book. Makes this all the more relevant.

 

I don't quite get that. No matter how the pieces fall, they still need a reissue division for WEA. Rhino has been a wholly owned subsidiary for a few years now, and at this point functions almost entirely as a reissue arm for Warner, Elektra, Atlantic, etc. And they do a good job of that. (Very few significant projects are developed around material licensed outside of WEA anymore, although they'll still license the odd track to improve a collection). The "found" money at the record companies comes from mining the catalogues--something Rhino does quite well. And it wouldn't make much sense to fold Rhino into one of the bigger name companies because they basically act as a service arm to all of them...

So I just say...Huh?

Kwad

 

RHINO HANDMADE ALERT

Peggy Lee - Let's Love
In early 1974, Peggy Lee had Paul and Linda
McCartney over for dinner. A fan since such early Lee singles as "Fever"
and "Mr. Wonderful," the Beatle stated upon arrival that rather than
bring champagne or flowers, he was writing a song for her. The simple,
romantic "Let's Love" became the first single and title track of her new
album, her first for Atlantic after a long tenure at Capitol.

In May 1974 at Abbey Road, McCartney produced and played piano on the
backing track to "Let's Love." He then recorded Lee's vocal in Los
Angeles. Lee coproduced the rest of the record with Dave Grusin, who had
worked with the singer in the '60s as an arranger/conductor. With The
Stylistics, Roberta Flack, and Quincy Jones ushering in an exciting new
phase of R&B, Lee wanted to try something less pop, more soul. Let's
Love fits the bill.

Other album highlights include "Sweet Lov'liness," a fully arranged
gospel toe-tapper, and Henry Mancini's "Sometimes," which first appeared
on the Carpenters' Grammy¨-winning 1971 album Carpenters. Lee brings a
sexy rhythm to the samba of "Sweet Talk," and a '70s funk update to
Irving Berlin's timeless "Always."

Several other tracks were recorded but not included on the original
album release. Presented on this Rhino Handmade edition as bonus
material, they include the breezy "I Am His Lady," the
vaudeville-flavored "I Wanna Be Seduced," and "The Nickel Ride," the
title theme to a Grusin-scored film. Of special note is a previously
unreleased version of "Let's Love," recorded by Lee and Grusin before
securing McCartney as producer.

Let's Love is available as an individually numbered limited edition of
3,000 copies. Get it at:

http://www.rhinohandmade.com/browse/ProductLink.lasso?Number=7853

 

Can usually read the latest on this sort of thing on the Rope....

http://velvetrope.starpolish.com/ub...399&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=&fpart=1&ses

 

I am wondering if that will spell the end for Warner's involvement with DVD-A, as a lot of them are indeed produced by Rhino and less and less of them have been released over recent months...
-wolf

 

Could be really bad news for DVD-A (not forgeting the folks who will lose thier jobs, of course )

 

Maybe, maybe not. Release schedules may be impacted, that is pretty much a certainty.

Now, if in the whole BMG/Sony merger Sony forces BMG to go SACD, and with the buyout of WMG, the new owners decide to shuttle the format and say, go, SACD ... well, that would be a big blow to the format. That would leave EMI - who does both - basically forced into making a SACD decision.

So the next, I'd say, 6 months will be telling if DVD-A will continue from the majors in force, or people will just go with possibly hybrid SACD.

I don't care either way, I can play both.

 

If this were to come to pass, a disaster for all of us....

Then, the best we could hope for is the best of the bunch turn up at another company where their work ethic would be appreciated...


ED

 

This doesn't look good for the Deluxe Edition of the Velvet Underground Live at Max's or The Doors Bright Midnight label.

Chris

 

Hey guys ,it know it stinks, but Rhino has almost been gone for two years already. They moved offices to Burbank over a year ago and if you see what has been put out since then it has all mostly been "WSM" ,as in "Warner Strategic Marketing", product. I was told by someone who still works at their distributor in NY that The Punk box was the last train out of dodge for "old Rhino" and was only released because it was too far developed to cancel. Even the person that who compiled it was "no longer at the company" by the time it was released.There are almost no people left there from the old days. And the ones that still are are pretty miserable.
I know people here have complained (and sometimes praised) about what they put out or how they did it but it always seemed to me the people who were there really did give a crap about what they did and how they did it.
She says for the people who are still there after the upcoming post-sale Warner Group company-wide staff reduction its gonna be worse for those who Don't lose their jobs.
The really stupid part she also told me "Rhino" part of the Warners had one the best sales years they ever had. Sales were way up over the previous year,in double digits! And the staff was rewarded by a policy of no raises in 2003. Not even cost-of-living. Pretty sad....
Makes me real glad I got out of that business!

 

Is there still such a company?

 

Any company that closes a profitable division is on a collision course with reality.

 

I wonder if Rhino Handmade has been given the heave-ho yet? Man, what a bumpy ride those guys have had. They got decimated a while back, then recently the nod to go full speed ahead again (with some nice reissues). If they're shuttering Rhino proper, there's no way they'll keep Handmade around. Too bad. There were/are some good people who actually care about music at Handmade...

Kwad

 

Don't get rid of your Rhino CDs, whatever you do! They are VALUBLE! We'll never see stuff like that again!

Watch the companies try to move operatons overseas!

 

The most recent issue of Billboard has a story on Rhino revamping the Billboard Hits series. So the Rhino name is going on. Here's the deal the original Rhino company was absorbed into Rhino some time ago as many have noted. One of the original founders has a new label Shout Factory! that has put out a lot of intersting reissue comps (they own the old Biograph labels masters so they out out a nice Heros Of The Blues Series) and also PBS tie-in Projects. The other Rhino founder is producing movies ( working on one with a script by Flo and Eddie). Rhino as a Brand may well exist for a long time, but the old Rhino company and the old Rhino spirit is probably gone with the wind. They knew how to take and make a joke. Hell, I even produced an album for them.

 

Which album did you do?

 

I wonder where Rhino would be today if they had stayed with Capitol Records.

 

Rhino was never with Capitol Records. They were independant until the went into a deal with WEA in the 90s.