How Are CD's Made?

Rhino's inspired, much-lauded, and enormously popular reissues, anthologies, and boxed sets each started with a seed. Quite often, a seed sprouting in the fertile consciousness of Gary Stewart, Senior VP/A&R, James Austin, Senior Director of A&R/Special Projects, or David McLees, A&R VP.

Or, for that matter, the seed for a Rhino title could emanate from any one of the creative types who work at the label, from the mob in the mailroom to the posse in legal affairs to the soldiers in sales. And, of course, there are always ideas from the music fans who call or write or e-mail Rhino suggesting (sometimes even pleading) that the label reissue a long-out-of-print album or compile the best of a favorite artist or group.

All of which begs the next question: Once the seed for a project finds its way to the fertile ground that is Rhino A&R and takes root, just how does Rhino nurture, grow, and harvest it, and deliver it to all the hungry ears in the musical marketplace?

The answer: like no other record company in the business.

Since Rhino specializes in reissues and anthologies of classic recordings, the company has developed innovative new strategies to successfully guide projects from creation to completion. It's basically four steps from idea to product; let's take a look at how it's done.

FIRST STEP: A&R
As you may have gathered from the foregoing, the process of harvesting the bounty of pop music's past begins with the A&R staff's observations of what needs to be reissued, combined with their subjective wish-lists of what they would like to reissue, and their responses to the expressed desires and demands of the ever-changing marketplace.

Once a consensus is reached between creative and business types that a proposed title is worth the trouble and can conceivably turn a profit, it's given the green light and A&R takes over. "It usually starts with choosing the songs and artists we love," affirms A&R chief Gary Stewart. "Sometimes, if it's a single-artist package, it may be a case where their home label either didn't have access to the rest of the artist's work, or has left out an entire period, or just didn't do it that well. Artists like Aretha Franklin, John Coltrane, Graham Parker, The Everly Brothers, Bobby Darin, or Charlie Parker have changed labels several times, with different creative periods at each. So, as an outside licensor, we can step in and clear tracks from a variety of labels, allowing us to create a definitive anthology that covers all aspects of that artist's career, or a particular genre of music. And since that's Rhino's primary business, we can usually do it better." "In creating our series and collections," Stewart says, "we start with what we know. After making our initial choices, we then `Solomonize' them (as in Biblical wise man King Solomon). We call in friends and experts who are super-knowledgeable about the genre to get a more complete, objective perspective, so we don't just put our favorite songs in."

SECOND STEP: LICENSING
Once the ideal artist and track selection is achieved, Rhino's legal department gets busy on the process of licensing them for release. Which isn't always easy.

A&R's list of tracks, plus alternates, are divided among the legal department's staff. Our requests for licensing of the masters are then sent to the various record labels, song publishers, or whoever controls the material, along with a royalty and advance offer.

If licensing of a track is denied, we press them for a reason why. Was it an artist denial because they didn't want to be part of the package? Is there a conflicting package that's already out? Are there certain restrictions? Maybe they don't even have the rights for the U.S. anymore. So we don't just accept a no. Often, whatever problem exists is easily surmountable.

Somewhere during that process, our director of publishing works on the publishing licensing. Then, when a sufficient number of tracks have been cleared, the project goes back to A&R and is scheduled for release.

Still, other problems may occur in the licensing phase. There may be conflicting companies or people claiming rights to the track, or, in rare cases, companies or artists so obscure that they're afraid of being exploited. We just have to allay their fears, and usually, we're successful. The most convincing argument for this sort of licensing is that all parties benefit -- especially if the licensor is a major label whose track, by nature of inclusion on a popular Rhino compilation, attracts new fans to its artist's catalog.

"Sometimes these artists aren't doing anything but licensing out their tracks. It may be the only way they derive any income," notes Stewart. "The thing is, Rhino is so well-respected in this area that we usually don't have to go through too much explanation. Ultimately, Rhino won't put out a track that we don't have a legitimate license for."

THIRD STEP: A&R PRODUCTION
Once the licensing contracts are finalized, the project goes back to A&R for the finishing touches. First, the master tapes have to be acquired, then digitally remastered, most often by Rhino's in-house sound producer, Bill Inglot, or by Rhino's favorite ace independent sound producer, Bob Fisher. "They have to make sure they get the best-available generation -- because there are often several -- and then they EQ (equalize) every song so that the final result is a consistent-sounding album," Stewart says.

The A&R staff also decides on the track sequencing. "In most cases it's chronological, with some adjustments for song flow," he continues. And finally, A&R hires a writer known for his or her expertise on a given project's genre (or artist) to give the liner notes that extra touch of class. "We always go after writers whose knowledge is thorough and first-hand, and whose writing also displays a sense of humor," adds Stewart.

FOURTH STEP: MARKETING
On paper, this is where A&R's primary responsibilities end, and the Rhino marketing staff's begin. In reality, however, Stewart prefers to exert his influence on favorite projects far past this point, serving as cheerleader.

"After it's released, I'll sometimes take a CD into our weekly marketing meetings just to help people keep focused on it," he says. "I also do a lot of press interviews to support all of our releases. It's important to see projects through to their final result." And by then, you can bet Stewart will already be thinking of ways to expand on them: "I'm always looking for projects we can envision as a series."

Meanwhile, on with the marketing -- encompassing merchandising, advertising, sales, radio promotion, and media relations (aka publicity). And before these Rhinos go to market, they rustle up a plan.

The goal: to achieve first-year sales equal to or exceeding the number projected by the marketing department, which comes up with the target figure based on a number of factors ranging from hard sales and market research to previous experience and gut instinct.

There are two ways Rhino develops a marketing plan: the traditional step-by-step, department-by-department method; and an innovative new "team" approach where all departments are in sync from the outset.

A&R conceives and nurtures the project, consults near the end of the process with marketing on key issues such as title and packaging concept, and then eventually hands it off to marketing. At that point, a product manager takes over and develops a marketing plan incorporating the best ideas from the sales, promotion, and publicity departments. Then we all follow through on the plan with regular meetings to assess progress and make mid-course adjustments.

And the team approach? Senior VP of Marketing Garson Foos explains: "For projects like the Blues Masters series, the Just Can't Get Enough '80s series, the Monkees catalog reissue series, our Sweet 16 anniversary celebration, our "Deep In The Groove" R&B catalog campaign, our "Rhino, Baby!" urban marketing push, and even to develop our Internet website, we formed teams very early, consisting of a representative from each company department.

"The teams met and threw ideas around the table," Foos continues. "Many of these early ideas became integral parts of our full-fledged retail and promotional campaigns later on. The teams democratically decided the best way to develop, package, market, and sell the project each step of the way.

"Because the team included a member from nearly every department in the company, we had excellent communication and coordination. Involving staff members who are not normally involved in the marketing process leads to great team spirit and enthusiasm, and it's almost like having an ongoing focus group, as the nonmarketers are often similar to our target audience."

"For Just Can't Get Enough, the team tossed ideas around the table and collectively came up with the name of the series and the tag line, `The Music You Lost Your Values To. Then, we got the idea for the cover images to emphasize the clothing of the time -- the band buttons, skinny ties, and leather jackets -- to be visually true to the period.

"Another example was coming up with the title `Deep In The Groove for an R&B catalog spotlight. The team developed an image of an old phonograph tone arm setting its big, fat needle down in the groove of a 78, and used the image in campaign ads, on samplers, posters, and so forth. These early ideas became integral parts of our full-fledged retail and promotional campaigns."

In fact, the "Deep In The Groove" campaign actually spawned a spinoff marketing effort. "We noticed that the Smooth Grooves series was selling very well," explains Foos (in fact, the entire series has sold nearly a million copies to date), "yet Smooth Grooves was not a part of our `Deep campaign at first, because those albums had been virtually selling themselves, so they required less promotion. But since the two names were so similar, and appealed to much the same audience, retail stores naturally lumped them together, which increased results for the entire campaign -- all without our prodding. So we decided to listen to the marketplace and fold Smooth Grooves into the `Deep In The Groove' campaign."

Then there are Rhino's eye-catching logos, such as the Have A Nice Day wise-guy smirky face, which have long been key to the label's marketing success. "Since we're a niche-oriented company, our budgets are not like Proctor & Gamble's," Foos points out. "We don't do heavy consumer advertising, so we develop and rely on memorable images that have strong visual impact and display the label's irreverent personality. We don't have that many shots to get the images out to the consumer, so when we do, it's vital that they be extremely effective."

Many of our releases trace pop music's rich history and tradition, but things like the team approach show our marketing vision is definitely geared toward the future. A new set of consumer dynamics is emerging that will dictate success in the marketplace of the new millennium. This means developing new distribution opportunities beyond traditional retail outlets. So, in addition to the usual avenues, our marketing plans target alternative channels such as direct response television and mail well as the emerging electronic malls of on-line computer services.

Put together, our marketing strategies are designed to broaden Rhino's already highly recognizable brand identity, and generate ever-increasing sales. When a consumer picks up something with the Rhino logo, wherever they may be shopping, we want them to know they're getting the finest recorded entertainment product at the best possible price.

PROMOTIONAL COMMOTION
Because Rhino's primarily an archival label, its use of radio promotion is also very different from that of a typical major label, whose goal is to constantly score airplay, chart action, and sales for new hits. Rhino's Promotion Department does play a different role here than they would at another label whose focus is new music. Because we focus primarily on radio airplay of reissues, we call many stations that don't get called by any other record company, like oldies and classic rock stations.

We also work formats specific to the project, like alternative stations for Just Can't Get Enough or country stations for our Songs Of The West box set or nostalgia stations for our Turner/Rhino soundtracks. We hatch wacky morning show ideas for our comedy releases, and feed them to music, talk, and news outlets and show prep syndicates. And we dream up ridiculously ambitious, terribly effective image-building stunts like giving away thousands of Rhino CDs on `Rhino Weekends, as we did as part of our Sweet 16 and `Deep In The Groove' campaigns.

PAGING THE SPIN DOCTORS...
Without lavish advertising budgets or power-rotation airplay, the role of Rhino's Media Relations team also looms larger in the success of a release than it might at a major label.

It all starts with A&R handing over a superior collection, but as outstanding as Rhino's releases are, they can't possibly succeed critically or commercially unless people find out about them. The challenge is to consistently find creative ways to expose our releases to as many people as possible, maximizing our resources.

“Often this means dreaming up campaigns that are as exciting to the media as our advertising is to the consumer,” says VP of Media Relations & New Media David Dorn. "We do this via traditional collectors’ outlets, plus the alternative and now-traditional mass-media, who all seem to have adopted Rhino as one of their favorites. We're also online to get the message out to consumers more directly and cost-effectively."

In the last couple of years, the general and niche strategies we've developed have proven very effective in reaching new Rhino converts, especially through the print media, talk radio, and TV, and among younger and older demos, resulting in greater brand awareness and better sales than originally projected.

“In many companies,” adds Dorn, “Media Relations is treated like a bastard son -- not true at Rhino. We definitely play an integral part in the creation and execution of a marketing plan.”

One gauge of industry awareness of and respect for Rhino is the increase in requests we get from media writers and producers who want expert opinions about musical genres or industry trends. Between Rhino's A&R and marketing crews, we can offer up at least one eminently quotable expert for just about any music-related subject, and cite one or more titles in the Rhino catalog that best represent it. Building this perception of Rhino as a reference and research resource is part of our long-range goal to make the label the first everyone thinks about when it comes to pop culture.

WRAP IT UP (I'LL TAKE IT)
Rhino is ahead of itself in many ways. Its own evolution is much like one of its own typical projects -- growing from a trunk load of used records to setting the industry standard in repackaging the great music of the past. As such, Rhino's status has grown from an offbeat interloper to a label as respected as any major.

As Gary Stewart observes, “We’ve always done reissues. We're just doing them better now. In the past, because of our naivete and neophyte status, our scope was more limited. Now, Rhino is actually having an impact on popular culture.”