News

Rhino Records Lays Off 30-40 Employees

5:22 p.m. · September 25, 2009 · by Tony Sclafani

The domestic label that arguably wrote the book on reissues, Rhino Records, has been forced to lay off 30-40 employees due to lousy economic conditions, reports Variety.

The simple answer as to why this is happening is that people just don't buy as many CDs anymore. As such, Rhino released a statement saying a "fundamental transformation of the physical new release and catalog business" is the reason for the cuts.

As Variety notes, this move comes as "sales of physical recorded music (continue) to decline steeply" and the demand for big-ticket items like Rhino's boxed set retrospectives is no longer what it once was. Rhino, which is part of the Warner Music Group, is planning on evolving into a company that "handles WMG's global digital catalog initiatives, film, TV, vidgame and commercial licensing, and name and likeness representation for legendary artists." Lately the Warner unit has been changing with the times, offering digital-only releases, like the Factory Records boxed set.

According to Variety, the job losses came in all departments, including A&R, marketing, promotion and publicity.

Source: Hypebot