Is This the End of the Rhino Records We Know and Love?

Earlier today, Warner Music Group announced that they were laying off 30 to 40 people from Rhino Records, citing a "fundamental transformation of the physical new release and catalog business."

What this means for the catalog giant is unknown. The first problem is that we don't know if 30 to 40 people is 3%, 30% or 50+% of their workforce. What we do know is that the statement released by Warner Music Group, the owners of Rhino, does not seem encouraging for future releases of deep catalog products. From a Variety article:

Company said Rhino will evolve into an entity that "handles WMG's global digital catalog initiatives, film, TV, vidgame and commercial licensing, and name and likeness representation for legendary artists."

There's no mention of CD releases there, just "digital catalog initiatives."

Now, we know that Rhino has been getting a little less aggressive in the release of deep catalog items in the last few years, but there have still been a number of fine sets out of the company. It would be a shame if one of the big manufacturers and distributors of veteran artist products were to suddenly turn its back on a still consuming older crowd.