After rising to Director of A&R at EMI-Manhattan Records and bringing The Red Hot Chili Peppers and Queensryche (among others) to their career high points, Rob Gordon left EMI in the fall of 1990. During Rob’s 4 years at EMI, a fun topic of conversation with his peers was, “What would we do differently, if we were in charge?” In 1991 Rob took many of those ideas and founded W.A.R.? – What Are Records? (W.A.R?) in his downtown Manhattan loft. By early 1992, W.A.R.? was ready to release its first album, No Room by The Samples. Rob quickly established a successful business utilizing innovative marketing initiatives, many of which have now become part of the normal vocabulary of the record business. In the early days of the label, W.A.R.? pioneered fan base development, harnessing fan enthusiasm to exponentially increase W.A.R.?’s marketing reach and efficacy (something Rob also did at EMI). W.A.R.? was an immediate success, selling six times as many Samples albums as their former label (Arista Records) in the first 18 months of release and sold equally well with the next four Samples releases.
Impressed by W.A.R.?’s success at connecting with fans and the industry, major labels such as RCA, Capitol, Arista, and A&M have employed W.A.R.?’s retail and tour marketing wizardry.
In 1994, Rob managed Lisa Loeb during her meteoric rise to fame with the #1 single “Stay (I Missed You)”
In the year 2000, Rob invented a new approach to working with artists that provided a sustainable and profitable alternative to the traditional royalty deal, where the Artists would get paid the “Variable Profit”.
W.A.R.? is one of the few long-term success stories, having released over 200 albums by such artists as Bill Burr, Stephen Lynch, Maceo Parker, Frank Black, Tim Finn, David Wilcox, The Samples, Elephant Revival, Trace Bundy, The Lil Smokies, The Poppy Family, Caroline Smith (and Lizzo) among several books and training videos.
In 2008, Rob formed the Management Company, United Interests, working with such bands as Elephant Revival, The Lil Smokies & Caroline Smith.
In 2016, Rob co-founded Peak Touring, Colorado’s first entertainer Coach company. Peak was sold in 2022 and continues to thrive today.
What Are Records operates today as a catalog label and a consulting company.