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

As has been mentioned, they kind of have: Shout Factory. They put out that Groucho You Bet Your Life box of DVD's last year, as well as their music reissues.

Rhino, as a company that cared about how things sounded, if the right tapes were used, and if the mastering was good is long gone. I believe the name will continue, but it's a "name" only.

However, I do have some friends who work for WEA, and I pray that they'll come through this.

 

They did, however, have a distribution deal with Capitol in the years before the WEA deal was made.

 

Right. But, the difference is that WEA took part ownership of Rhino with the option to buy. And, that's what happened. Things were still fine until the deal with AOL. Then the writing was on the wall.

 

I will miss Rhino as much as I will miss the industry that I used to depend on for great music - but that industry died about six years ago with the ascent of the mega-coporations like Clear Channel, who own just about every form of entertainment in Boston (clubs/concert halls/radio stations/television stations/newspapers/billboards). I doubt the nameless CEOs at the top of Clear Channel or any of the six remaining record megacompanies (is there even as much as six?) even listen to music....

 

I was just thinking that if Rhino/WB does go away, that will leave the future of DVD-A in one companies hand...............................SILVERLINE!!!

 

I'm going back to bed.

 

Wow, this means all those old great Rhino CD's(from when they were an independent company)are now truly collector's items. Rhino had it's good and it's bad, but the good definitely outweighed the bad. Good: Great comps, much OOP material reissued. Bad: often thin sounding, mono used more often than stereo in critical comps.

Evan

 

This Is REALLY bad news to me, because Rhino Handmade and Andrew Sandval are working on a Monkees "1966 Sessions" set , like the headquarters set. I was really looking foward to that...they found the multitracks of the Boyce and Hart produced Second Lp that was never issued. It was never even MIXED. If they shut Rhino down as a label, I'm pretty sure Handmade is history,and because it doesnt bring in X amount in dollars, some accountants gonna go..."Shut it and concentrate on the moneymaking titles" I just know it.

This sucks.

 

With all the crazy things in the music business, especially since we hear of the DualDisc snafu's in the past weeks, hearing of Rhino's demise almost doesn't make sense. Rhino absorbed amazing amounts of musical culture in a very short time that wouldn't have been done, or done well.

 

Isn't Bill Inglot still with Rhino though? He's credited with the remastering of the Television albums that just came out last year. As long as he's doing the remastering, couldn't we count on the same quality? Some people here complain about Rhino sound quality, but I think there stuff sounds better than most other companies. At least they don't compress everything.

Does this mean that CD's like the Los Lobos boxset, Ramones, Cars, T. Rex, etc. stuff will go out of print? Shame about the loss of jobs though, I know what that's like.

 

What's going on with all the upcoming releases... Fleetwood Mac, Black Sabbath, James Taylor, Cure etc

 

This is all very depressing, if true. I just ordered the Gilbert O'Sullivan box from Handmade...

 

Well, one of the rumours is that they owe millions in back royalties that they've never paid. That would be a reason to close the division.

 

I think most of you are making a bigger deal out of this than need be. The worst part is that people are going to lose their jobs which is terrible.
I think the labor of love that involved a lot of Rhino comps have been long gone since Rhino signed a deal with Warner Bros a while back to look after their catalog.
There's still going to be reissues and the CD's that are out aren't going to go out of print since Warner distributes them anyways.
Bill I. will still be there (unless he is unhappy with the change or if contract negotiations go haywire).
I think it will be business as usual it has already been for the past couple years- it just won't be Rhino anymore- it will be Warner Strategic marketing. Warners just wants to condense everything to that label- sadly it will affect people's lives that work there.
The only major change I can see is that Rhino Handmade goes bye-bye. Which won't matter to me since all they put out is damn Monkees CD's!!! (kidding...sort of).

 

I also think that there will be delays until they figure out what's going on over there and new projects will have a more commercial purpose behind it. Will we see Monkees Unreleased Vol 472 put out by Warner Bros? Probably not.
(Sorry for the Monkees reference again, that was the only example I could come up with).

 

Yep, those ol' Rhino CDs before 1987 or so were pretty special!
But after that there's not that much worth acclaiming, soundwise, is there?
Only the old, old ones (e.g., Dionne Warwick) really delivered an honest balanced sound.
IMHO!

FFF
------------
Mike Patrick

 

The music business is like show business! Very sad indeed

 

Well, even today's Rhino is nearly unsurpassed (with the possible exception of Bear Family) for packaging-great graphics and very informative liner notes. I'm thinking primarily of the Nuggets box set.

 

Rhino will always rule!

Sad indeed, Claus.

Hi, folks - I'm new to this forum. I've learned of this Rhino/WB rumor only just today, thanx to Claus.

I've had a working relationship with Rhino since the late '80s (I can proudly say that I was the first journalist to do a feature on Gary Stewart). Over the years, Rhino has continually surprised and dazzled me with their knowledge and passion for music. However, since they connected with WB a few years back, they've lost that cutting-edge touch they had from the beginning. Thus, a break from WB - in my eyes - would be welcome.

It's time for Rhino to go back to the basics: its own reissues. Isn't it about time to re-do the entire Todd Rundgren catalog?! What about those great PowerPop and '70s Soul compilations they did in the '90s? Go back to that niche, Rhino! No one did it better.

I don't have any insider information to offer, but don't fret - I don't think Rhino is going to vanish. It's in a league of its own.

 

Well said Gerry, Rhino is/was a puppet in the Warner department... a deep fall

 

I was thinking EdFi...

 

High-Ed-Fi?

 

Lie-no