Howie Klein, Longtime Reprise President and Free Speech Advocate, Dies at 77

An April 1995 Billboard An April 1995Billboardarticle noting Klein’s appointment as the president of Reprise. article noting Klein’s appointment as the president of Reprise. Known for his artist-first philosophy, Klein helped shaped careers from Green Day to Joni Mitchell. Howie Klein , the influential and forward-thinking record executive and political activist whose artist-first philosophy helped bring alternative music into the mainstream, died Wednesday (Dec. 24) after a battle with pancreatic cancer, his sister announced on social media. He was 77. Widely respected for championing creative freedom and resisting censorship, Klein left his mark on the music business through influential roles at Sire Records and Reprise Records, as well as earlier work in radio and indie labels. Klein, a Brooklyn native, launched his music career in the late 1960s while studying at Stony Brook University on Long Island, where he wrote about music and booked concerts. After relocating to San Francisco in the 1970s, he emerged as a prominent DJ at KSAN-FM and co-founded 415 Records, an indie label that became a key incubator for punk and new wave acts including Romeo Void, Translator, Wire Train and the Nuns. At 415, Klein also developed forward-thinking ideas about record promotion, arguing as early as 1980 that labels should target college radio stations strategically rather than flooding the system with unwanted promo copies - an approach that anticipated modern data-driven marketing. In the mid-1980s, Klein joined Seymour Stein’s Sire Records, working closely with a roster that included Lou Reed, the Ramones, Talking Heads, Depeche Mode and Uncle Tupelo. When Stein moved Sire’s distribution from one Warner Music label to another (Warner Bros. Records -> Elektra) in the mid-1990s, Klein hung back and was named president of Reprise Records. During his six-year tenure, he oversaw a remarkably eclectic lineup, including Green Day, Alanis Morissette, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Wilco, Fleetwood Mac, Paul Westerberg and Enya. Known for his hands-on, artist-friendly leadership style, Klein earned deep loyalty from musicians, particularly those who felt marginalized elsewhere in the industry. All-female rockers Babes in Toyland, for example, publicly praised his accessibility and respect for artists. “He came out and met us, and he was very excited about the record and was really pumped up,” the band’s Lori Barbero told Billboard in 1995. “They have a lot of women that work there, and they are not just secretaries... They don’t treat us like we’re stupid, and if we have a problem, we feel we can call Howie Klein, and he’ll talk to us.” Klein’s steady leadership at Reprise made the label a haven for artists, and his sudden departure in 2001 following the Time Warner-AOL merger triggered a rift with one of its most acclaimed acts: Wilco. Soon after he left, execs asked the sure-footed band to alter its finished (and now-seminal) album, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot . Confident in the record as it stood, Wilco refused, sparking tense negotiations. Ultimately, the band bought back the rights to the album and exited its contract , which had called for...

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