Terri Hinte has been fired by Concord Records.

[Guest Chaney]

June 24, 2006

Terri Hinte

Terri Hinte has been fired by Concord Records. Her name will not mean a thing to most of you, but her work has indirectly benefited serious jazz listeners for decades. The news of her dismissal is of intense interest to many writers because Ms. Hinte is the very model of what a record company publicist should be-- deeply knowledgeable about the music and its players, intelligent, responsive, resourceful, helpful in countless substantive ways. She went to work for Fantasy, Inc. in 1973 and was its director of publicity since 1978.

The Fantasy complex of labels contains much of the most important recorded jazz from the 1940s on, as well as significant collections of blues and pop. In addition to Fantasy itself, Prestige, Riverside, Milestone, Contemporary, Pablo, Debut, Galaxy and Stax are under the Fantasy umbrella. Among the artists on those labels are Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Bill Evans, Thelonious Monk, Wes Montgomery, Cal Tjader, Dave Brubeck, Paul Desmond, Gerry Mulligan, Oscar Peterson, Ella Fitzgerald, Sonny Rollins, Art Pepper, Sarah Vaughan and Dizzy Gillespie. The list is much longer, but those names give you an idea of the importance of the Fantasy catalog.

Far from simply sending out review copies and news releases, as many companies do, Terri Hinte made it her business to know the extensive and varied catalog inside out and to understand the importance of the hundreds of musicians who recorded for its labels over more than five decades. Her newsletters and advisories were light years beyond the puffery that passes for publicity in too many precincts of the music business. They contained news that writers about the music, and those who broadcast it, could and did use, resulting in better informed listeners. Her phone calls often brought writers valuable story ideas. The catalogs she produced are valuable reference works packed with information.

Concord bought Fantasy eighteen months ago, fueling speculation among jazz professionals and listeners about what would happen to the invaluable recordings in the Fantasy archives. The dismissal of Ms. Hinte has only increased nervousness about Concord's intentions concerning the future of those treasures. Concord's timing was interesting; it let her go on the eve of her recognition with a special A-Team award from the Jazz Journalists Association, which named her "De Facto Curator of Fantasy Records."

In the current issue of Billboard, reporter Dan Ouellette quotes Concord President Glen Barros.

"We're committed to jazz and the jazz catalog we've invested in." He adds that he has "tremendous respect" for Hinte as "a great caretaker, proponent and spokesperson" for jazz. "However, when companies merge, there are unfortunate consequences," Barros says. "But I don't think Terri's departure means that we have any less respect for the Fantasy catalog."

Many musicians, including Sonny Rollins, came to depend on Ms. Hinte for counsel and guidance. She has been Rollins's only publicist for twenty-eight years. Now, she plans a career as a free lance writer, editor and publicist, continuing to work with Rollins. The Rifftides staff wishes her well.

For a sample of Ms. Hinte's considerable writing ability, on a subject you may not expect, go here.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Thanks for posting that Chaney. I had a feeling this was happening.

The sample of Terri's writing is very impressive! Hope she gets on well in the future.

MG

[HolyStitt]

This is sad news.

I spoke to her this Spring. I am working on having a city proclamation put out when Sonny Rollins comes to town this Fall and she was my contact person from Fantasy. She was a lot of help, with contacting Sonny to make sure it was something he wanted done and giving me suggestions on how it should be written.

[Christiern]

As I posted on AAJ yesterday...

I second everything Doug Ramsey writes about Terri. They don't make PR people like her now and, perhaps they never did.

As for Concord, I still get angry when I think about how that label treated Susannah McCorkle. It would never have happened when Carl Jefferson was alive.

It's sad to see the record business taken over by uncaring, tone deaf fools.

I hope Terri does more writing--she is very good at it--and I wish her the very best as I join the many people who will miss her as a contact.

[sidewinder]

She even helped out with an email request from me for a spare CD set box, in person. Big for such great customer service and a thanks for all that fantastic music issued in recent years on Fantasy/Prestige/Milestone.

[Guest Chaney]

From Billboard: Although an impressive series of reissues and boxed sets have been set in motion -- including the Thelonious Monk/John Coltrane two-CD set, "The Complete 1957 Riverside Recordings," bowing June 27 -- it was disconcerting for many in the jazz community to hear that Terri Hinte, a Fantasy employee for 33 years and its director of publicity for 28 years, was laid off May 31, with three business days' notice. Jazz at Fantasy lost one of its true advocates.

[paul secor]

I don't know anything about Terri Hinte except what I've read here, but this certainly doesn't bode well for the future of the Fantasy catalogue, especially the more obscure items. Chuck was prescient when he started the thread about getting the OJCs while they're available.

Grab any obscure OJCs, OBCs (all of those are pretty obscure), Specialty's, Prestiges, etc., while you can. It's a pretty sure bet (despite what their pres. says) that Concord won't repress them.

[J.A.W.]

Big for such great customer service and a thanks for all that fantastic music issued in recent years on Fantasy/Prestige/Milestone.

Seconded! What a stupid thing to do, firing her...

[king ubu]

In the current issue of Billboard, reporter Dan Ouellette quotes Concord President Glen Barros.

(...) "However, when companies merge, there are unfortunate consequences," Barros says. "But I don't think Terri's departure means that we have any less respect for the Fantasy catalog."

Strange, no? One would think he as president wouldn't "think", but *know*...

[CJ Shearn]

what a shame! She always gave great and quick replies in emails to questions I had about the catalog.

[Dan Gould]

I don't know anything about Terri Hinte except what I've read here, but this certainly doesn't bode well for the future of the Fantasy catalogue, especially the more obscure items. Chuck was prescient when he started the thread about getting the OJCs while they're available.

Grab any obscure OJCs, OBCs (all of those are pretty obscure), Specialty's, Prestiges, etc., while you can. It's a pretty sure bet (despite what their pres. says) that Concord won't repress them.

This is unfortunate, obviously, for Ms. Hinte, but I fail to see how this proves that Concord is going to waste what they invested so much money in. Does it occur to anyone else that Concord had its own PR person, and that it usually happens after one company buys another that the people in the purchasing company end up keeping their jobs, and its the people in the company being bought that end up fearing, or experiencing, the axe?

If Concord ends up deleting a lot of the catalog in favor of the big stars + a boatload of comps, it will have nothing to with the absence of Terri Hinte. And that remains an if. After all, wasn't there talk that Fantasy kept so much great but low-selling music in print partially because they owned the warehouse space, and how that altered the calculus? So what has changed if Concord bought them lock, stock and barrel?

[Stefan Wood]

It may not change anything for now. However, when you lose the connections to the company and how the catalog was built and maintained, the new folks who run it may not give it the same attention and care.

[HolyStitt]

Does it occur to anyone else that Concord had its own PR person, and that it usually happens after one company buys another that the people in the purchasing company end up keeping their jobs, and its the people in the company being bought that end up fearing, or experiencing, the axe?

It's funny you mention this. After I emailed Fantasy, about the proclamation, it took a few days for anyone to get back to me. When she called, she apologized for the delay. I said no problem, I bet things are a little hectic around there with the merger and she said no, that was old news and the after affects had been in place for a while now.

It's sad to say, but I feel this has more to do with Concord wanting their own person in this position.

[Ken Dryden]

I'll have to argue with Dan Gould about his justification of Concord's dismissal of long time Fantasy publicist Terri Hinte. She was far more knowledgable and accessible than any jazz publicity head whom I've dealt with as a writer over the past 18 years. I have a feeling it was simply a matter of salary for the parent company; keep the cheaper, less experienced people in place and let go of Terri. No one in the jazz publicity business at Concord is likely to have the connections and rapport with as many writers as Terri Hinte.

You have to wonder how long it will be before the excellent Telarc jazz publicists, Mike Wilpizeski and Amanda Sweet, face a similar fate.

I will second the motion that Concord has done an extreme disservice to jazz fans by focusing too much on pop, while curtailing new jazz releases, reissues and first time issues of undiscovered treasures from their combined holdings. Fantasy's new offerings were put on hold for around 8-9 months after its purchase by Concord, while their output has never returned to its previous level.

While I understand that some of these pop offerings have been very profitable for the label, why do jazz fans have to be shortchanged in the process?

Terri Hinte will do fine as a writer and publicist on her own, but I'm sure that writers who have dealt with her over the years are as outraged as I am by her firing.

[Big Al]

In the current issue of Billboard, reporter Dan Ouellette quotes Concord President Glen Barros.

"We're committed to jazz and the jazz catalog we've invested in." He adds that he has "tremendous respect" for Hinte as "a great caretaker, proponent and spokesperson" for jazz. "However, when companies merge, there are unfortunate consequences," Barros says. "But I don't think Terri's departure means that we have any less respect for the Fantasy catalog."

Uh huh.... That's about as vague and two-faced a statement as one would expect....

Edited June 26, 2006 by Big Al

[John Tapscott]

Dan, I think you're giving Concord way too much credit in light of Concord's spotty post Carl Jefferson performance. I think we ought to expect the worst from Concord. I was in the Disney World Virgin Megastore in March and there two big bins full of Fantasy/Miletsones/OJC deletes, sort of out of sight under the escalators, as I recall. It's obvious that Concord is skimming the cream from the catalogue, and they don't want someone like Terri Hinte around who knows the catalogue really well and might raise some objections.

If Concord ends up deleting a lot of the catalog in favor of the big stars + a boatload of comps, it will have nothing to with the absence of Terri Hinte. And that remains an if. After all, wasn't there talk that Fantasy kept so much great but low-selling music in print partially because they owned the warehouse space, and how that altered the calculus? So what has changed if Concord bought them lock, stock and barrel?

[Dan Gould]

I'll have to argue with Dan Gould about his justification of Concord's dismissal of long time Fantasy publicist Terri Hinte. She was far more knowledgable and accessible than any jazz publicity head whom I've dealt with as a writer over the past 18 years. I have a feeling it was simply a matter of salary for the parent company; keep the cheaper, less experienced people in place and let go of Terri. No one in the jazz publicity business at Concord is likely to have the connections and rapport with as many writers as Terri Hinte.

You're not arguing with me, Ken, you're agreeing with me. Whether it was a matter of salary, or wanting to keep the people you've been working with, it is in all likelihood an internal matter necessitated by the takeover of Fantasy. Don't we all know of talented, hard-working individuals who lost their jobs after a merger and did nothing to deserve their fate? It happens all the time.

[Fer Urbina]

Terri Hinte has been fired by Concord Records. Her name will not mean a thing to most of you

Well, it does mean a thing to me: someone who had an important job at an important company (pre-Concord Fantasy, or so I thought) but, unlike many of her colleagues, used to answer emails personally, without preset messages, and frequently went out of her way to help.

So, whatever the reasons behind these, and I accept there might be some good ones , this is definitely no good news.

And why exactly did Concord buy Fantasy? And what for?

F

[Dan Gould]

John, I bow to no one in my contempt for the management of Concord, post-Carl Jefferson.

But I don't think that the current owners feel a need to get rid of someone just because, if massive deletions happen, they don't want someone around who will object. I think they'd just say "tough noogies" and delete away.

If that is what is coming to pass, maybe its best for Ms. Hinte that she is let go now instead of watching the catalog get eviscerated.

Does anyone know that Ms. Hinte was deeply involved in selecting reissue projects, or keeping low-selling OJCs in print? Her job title was PR, and she obviously knew a lot about the Fantasy labels, but no one has explained why she needed to go in the context of some presumed decision to delete most of the back catalog. I am sure she would have done a great job promoting whatever reissues they do put out.

Dan, I think you're giving Concord way too much credit in light of Concord's spotty post Carl Jefferson performance. I think we ought to expect the worst from Concord. I was in the Disney World Virgin Megastore in March and there two big bins full of Fantasy/Miletsones/OJC deletes, sort of out of sight under the escalators, as I recall. It's obvious that Concord is skimming the cream from the catalogue, and they don't want someone like Terri Hinte around who knows the catalogue really well and might raise some objections.

If Concord ends up deleting a lot of the catalog in favor of the big stars + a boatload of comps, it will have nothing to with the absence of Terri Hinte. And that remains an if. After all, wasn't there talk that Fantasy kept so much great but low-selling music in print partially because they owned the warehouse space, and how that altered the calculus? So what has changed if Concord bought them lock, stock and barrel?

[Ken Dryden]

Dan, I understand the reasoning used to eliminate Terri Hinte's position, though I think it showed extremely poor judgement. Tossing out Terri's experience, knowledge and goodwill to save some money may not produce the payoff expected.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Terri Hinte has been fired by Concord Records. Her name will not mean a thing to most of you

Well, it does mean a thing to me: someone who had an important job at an important company (pre-Concord Fantasy, or so I thought) but, unlike many of her colleagues, used to answer emails personally, without preset messages, and frequently went out of her way to help.

So, whatever the reasons behind these, and I accept there might be some good ones , this is definitely no good news.

And why exactly did Concord buy Fantasy? And what for?

F

I was never in contact with Terri, but I always found Fantasy staff knowledgeable and helpful in responding to e-mails. I got replies from the actual people who had done the things I was writing about - blimey!

I've been buying up OJCs for a few months now. I have had a VERY bad feeling about this takeover from the day I heard about it. If there's one thing that indicates a lack of knowledge and understanding by the Concord staff of the Fantasy catalogue, it's the artist index on the website. Fantasy staff KNEW that Red Garland was the same artist as the Red Garland trio; and so on for Cannon, and numerous others. Concord obviously employ either a bunch of idiots or consultants/contractors.

And if there's another, it's that there's no e-mail address on the website where people can contact any bugger there, even the office cleaner.

So every event such as Terri's dismissal (THREE FUCKING DAYS NOTICE?!) is simply another indication that Concord is not going to do any better in the future than it has in the past.

MG

PS - I seem to remember reading in Billboard in the mid-'90s that Alliance Entertainment had tried to buy Fantasy for $100m, but been told to look elsewhere. This is the firm that bought Concord.

Edited June 26, 2006 by The Magnificent Goldberg

[Chuck Nessa]

Some see "interdepartment memos" while others see "writing on the wall".

[Christiern]

Nice of you to defend Concord, Dan, but firing Terri is just the latest in an ongoing dilution process. I wonder of Norman Lear knows what these idiots are doing to the company. I saw the same thing happen at Stereo Review--I'm afraid it's a sign of the times.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

It's all very well to assume this is part of a great plan to run Fantasy's operation into Concord's, but no one gets sacked on 3 days notice as part of a grand plan; not unless there's something odd going down.

I don't know what the law is in the US, but I bet Terri had a contract that specified that she had to be given more notice, against which they'd have had to compensate her; at arguably greater expense than keeping her on for the full period of her notice.

MG

[Dan Gould]

It's all very well to assume this is part of a great plan to run Fantasy's operation into Concord's, but no one gets sacked on 3 days notice as part of a grand plan; not unless there's something odd going down.

I don't know what the law is in the US, but I bet Terri had a contract that specified that she had to be given more notice, against which they'd have had to compensate her; at arguably greater expense than keeping her on for the full period of her notice.

MG

You obviously know nothing about employment law in the US, or what kind of protections exist and don't exist for most employees.