[wetcamelfood]

Yeah, I wrote to Mr. David Mclees at Rhino who is the Vice President of A&R (as this is who David May at Warners suggested I write to about this) and he basically said that as FM was still signed to WB that they couldn't touch the back catalog (in other words, in WB's mind, they think back catalog album's sales would cut in to the new albums sales). I would imagine this is the reason they have been "allowed" to remaster artists that were previously on Warners such as Elvis Costello, Bonnie Raitt among others. I had originally thought that reissues by other WEA related artists that were still with the label (such as CSN&Y, Genesis, Yes etc.) were done by Rhino but they still seem to be done by Atlantic so this would make sense. ChiliD and I have talked about this and have suggested to them that the catalog discs could be stealthily replaced with the newly upgraded versions (per ChiliD's above list) as WB/Reprise simultaneously stealthily deletes the current back catalog. Then, once the upcoming “new” album is released and the sales on that album start to dip (after a few months or so) at that time, they could do a healthy marketing push on the back catalog material that has already (at that point) been on the market (for however long). We figured that if their thoughts on this do start now, the plus of having the entire (or most of the entire) back catalog on the market before the “new” albums’ release being that the avid fans will notice the new versions of the catalog releases when going to purchase the “new” album and they will buy the new upgrades at that time and others who would be just discovering the band for the first time (or general casual fans) may delve into some of the catalog albums either at the same time of buying the “new” release or shortly thereafter due to the promotion put forth in respect of the upgrades. Mr. McLees informed me previously that “cost and profits are not the key issues" but surely in persuading the appropriate parties to join forces on this matter, this will undoubtedly be perceived as an added bonus if nothing else. As of yet, we have received no response from Rhino in regards to this suggestion. So maybe some of you might want to think about writing to David McLees as well but it will only mean something if these points are taken in to consideration when deciding what you wish the contents of your letter to include so that way, all of us are unanimus and it gives them "no excuse" if you know what I mean. Something to think over anyways. I have heard some rumors that FM is not with WB anymore and are trying to finalize a deal with another label (I think someone around these boards mentioned they heard Dreamworks may be a possible contender). Naturally, if this was the case, we could THEN get Rhino to release the WB back catalog right away as they would be "able" to then but I guess we'll have to wait and see what label the new Mac album will be released on first in that instance but it probably wouldn't hurt for some of you to write to McLees now anyways (making sure you use the appropriate "phrase-ology" (refer to above)) to at least show them the great interest that they need to be convinced that such re-releases would be, how should I put it... (since they don't seem to like the "cost and profits" words even though we know very well that they secretly DO care about such aspects of such a project) "worth their while".

John