Rhino Sings the 'Toons

Rhino Sings the `Toons
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The Licensors
Doing what they do best, Kid Rhino decided that the way to approach the children's market was to tap into children's pop culture. Hanna-Barbera was one of Kid Rhino's early licensors and their first release was "A Christmas in Bedrock," featuring original songs sung by The Flintstones characters. The album's success led to additional releases including "Hanna-Barbera Classics," which features cartoon scores from Huckleberry Hound, Quick Draw McGraw, Magilla Gorilla, and other early Hanna-Barbera series. The label also released The Flintstones' "Modern Stone-Age Melodies," the "Hanna-Barbera Cartoon Sound FX" library, which includes cartoon sound effects and answering machine messages in the characters' voices, and a 4-CD box set called "Hanna-Barbera's Pic-A-Nic Basket of Cartoon Classics."

Some of the label's most successful properties come from Cartoon Network. The recently released "Cartoon Network's Cartoon Medley" features 38 songs including the themes from The Powerpuff Girls, Dexter's Laboratory, Johnny Bravo, and old favorites like The Flintstones, The Jetsons, and Josie & the Pussycats. According to Lee, "Scooby-Doo's Snack Treats: The Ultimate Collection" has been Kid Rhino's most successful animation album, mainly due to its broad appeal. She says, "...The babyboomers remember [Scooby Doo] from when they were growing up and want to share it with their kids...and it's playing on Cartoon Network, so a new audience is able to learn about it." The album features the different Scooby Doo theme songs and the catchy tunes played during those memorable chase scenes.

Licensing from Nickelodeon, Kid Rhino released "The Best of Nicktoons," which features music from Rugrats, Ren & Stimpy, Rocko's Modern Life, and Angry Beavers. Plus, two of the newer Nickelodeon albums, "Rugrats: In Search of the Mighty Reptar" and "Blues Clues: Blue's Big Treasure" feature both stories and music.

The company also licensed music from ABC Television and produced the Schoolhouse Rock albums. In addition, they've produced several albums within the anime genre, licensing the songs from various Japanese companies. These albums include "The Best of Anime" (including theme songs from Speed Racer and Gigantor) and "Sailor Moon: Songs from the Hit TV Series."

Warner Brothers
Rhino was acquired by Warner Music Group in April 1998. All of their Warner Brothers audio properties are released under Kid's WB! Music, an additional label developed by Rhino and Warner Brothers Consumer Products in 1996. The Animaniacs album was the first release, which includes 16 original songs from the series. "Animaniacs: Yakko's World" soon followed. Looney Tunes albums include "Looney Tunes: Bugs & Friends Sing Elvis," "Baby Looney Tunes: Born to Sing," which features 20 Mother Goose parody songs, and "Looney Tunes: Taz in a Scary Tale From Down Under," a read-along.

Lee says working with Warner Brothers gives the company an advantage: "...We become aware of properties they're going to be putting out on home video, theatricals, and television.... Sometimes we'll go to them or they'll come to us and suggest that we develop something, which is what happened with The Iron Giant."