Stevie moved to Rhino Records because her contract with Reprise expired?

[RockALittle250]

Alot of people have been asking this question both on The Ledge and Seven Wonders boards. I was reading a post on the Seven Wonders boards from July, and alot of people were speculating on Stevie's "new record" because someone was told by Sheryl Crow (because they met her at an event) that in July she was hard at work on a new album. They were trying to figure out what the terms of Stevie's contract was with Reprise, most had said it was a 3 record deal signed and completed before TISL was released. Some had said her contract was re-negotiated to include SYW and LIB as part of her 3 record deal. Therefore, if this is the case, she would be out of contract with Reprise.

I was reading up on Rhino Records and here is an except from Wikipedia's article: "In addition to dealing with archive material, the label also manages the US distribution or worldwide production of compilations for more recent Warner acts, including still-active artists such as Enya, New Order, and Chicago."

Warner Music Group is the parent company to Rhino Records, so if she is out of contract with Reprise, then that means Warner may have decided to have her sign with Rhino, since they mostly deal with older and still active artists. Now some of you may ask why LB also isn't with Rhino (for Under the Skin) because he is also an older artist. IMO, that's because he's only released about 4 solo albums and is not known as a major solo artist (sales wise or popularity wise)

We know that Rhino is Stevie's label for this retrospective because of certain press releases, Amazon.com and Mark Needham's website to name a few sources. Rhino Records is a specialty record company, but they do not have as much "control" as alot of people think. Artists under their label release new albums, retrospectives, DVD's, etc...just like any other label.

This is my spin on things and from what i have read and tried to piece together, this is what i think is Stevie's current situation.

[whitesoxx]

Rhino almost exclusively handles compilations of artists from the WEA catalog (Warner/Elektra-Asylum/Atlantic). So it seems unlikely Stevie has been signed by this catalog-label. Also I don't think any Fleetwood Mac releases count towards the fulfillment of her contract as a solo artist with Reprise.

So my bet would be that the compilation will come out on Rhino because it's Modern/Atlantic/Reprise material that will be on it and her next solo album will be on Reprise.

PS happy 2007 everyone!