Ramble On: John C. Hughes on New Beginnings

Soooo, whereÁ¢€â„¢s Lost in the Á¢€Ëœ70s/Á¢€â„¢80s/Á¢€â„¢90s been? Has that Hughes character been slacking off? Well, not quite.

It may be fairly obvious from my 400+ posts about the subject, but IÁ¢€â„¢m a music junkie. Hardcore, even. ThatÁ¢€â„¢s why when a new job opportunity presented itself, I not only jumped on it, but I pretty much grabbed it in a headlock until it cried Á¢€Å“Uncle!Á¢€

IÁ¢€â„¢m the new Senior Director of Online Marketing for Rhino.com. Cool, right? ItÁ¢€â„¢s a dream job for me Á¢€” surrounded by other music freaks, I dreamed of swimming in pools of New Order and Monkees reissues, living happily ever after. I started last Tuesday with a head full of ideas and a smile on my face.

Then the layoffs hit.

In case you didnÁ¢€â„¢t hear, some of the Rhino staff was laid off last week. Talk about a rough first week on the job. Not fun.

To top it off, after the layoffs the internet went nuclear with post after post eulogizing Rhino Á¢€” Á¢€Å“RIP Rhino,Á¢€ Á¢€Å“Rhino Records Is Dead,Á¢€ etc., etc. Now wait a sec, here Á¢€” there are more than 100 people still in this office thatÁ¢€â„¢ll disagree with you on that, especially me. Not only is Rhino alive, itÁ¢€â„¢s kickinÁ¢€â„¢.

IÁ¢€â„¢ve spent a good portion of my working life in the music industry, starting with my first job at the age of 16 working at KammÁ¢€â„¢s Record Shop in bucolic downtown Elyria, Ohio, and I can honestly tell you, hand to gawd, the new Rhino.com which launches next month (I got a sneak peek!) is going to be one of the best things to happen for music fans like me trying to get great tunes, expert info and get it easily from musicologists I can trust (and there are plenty left here, believe me!). IÁ¢€â„¢m not supposed to let too much slip here, but since you Popdosers have been my friends for so long, IÁ¢€â„¢ll give you a little taste of what I just saw: The new Rhino.com is going to feature better quality digital downloads than anywhere else online, and that includes torrents, iTunes, Amazon, you name it. No lie. DonÁ¢€â„¢t tell anyone though Á¢€” thatÁ¢€â„¢s our little secret, k?

Another rumor making the rounds is that Rhino is abandoning physical releases. Nope. In fact, I just saw that Rhino Handmade has even more releases on next yearÁ¢€â„¢s schedule than we’ve seen in years, plus there are plenty of new box sets coming, so put those minds at ease and clean out those ears Á¢€” great things are on the way.

Those are just a couple of things in the pipeline Á¢€” IÁ¢€â„¢ll check back in a week or so and give you guys an update. Thanks to Jeff and the rest of the Popdose crew for letting me ramble and thanks to all of you for your support. Great things are ahead Á¢€” trust.

The opinions expressed here are the personal opinions of John C. Hughes. Content published here may not be approved by WMG before it is posted and does not necessarily represent the views and opinions of WMG.