RIAA UNVEILS NEW PARENTAL WARNING STICKER (Continued from page 1) on the lower right-hand corner of the "may not satisfy everyone" and said permanent packaging underneath the RIAA would continue to fight the cellophane shrink -wrap. The against any legislation requiring gov- A SUPERIOR GROOVE HAS TAKEN CONTROL. sticker will be 1 inch by half an inch ernment-mandated labeling. on cassettes and CD jewel boxes, and Berman and Granberg were joined Do not attempt to adjust your set. 11/2 inch by 1 inch on LPs and CD at the press conference by rap artist TheTechnotrorlic Revolution is in full effect. longboxes. Daddy 0 from the group Stetsasonic, Mickey Granberg, former execu- a father of five who said that he fa- tive VP of the National Assn. of Re- vored voluntary labeling but added THE UPRISING cording Merchandisers, said NARM that it is "up to parents" to monitor The Interrational incident "enthusiastically welcomes" the new what children listen to. He also said began with t- e smashing debut sticker. She added that the lack of a that "if a cassette can change a standardized label had been a "funda- child's life, then something's wrong mental problem that contributed to with the parent." . the rash of bills introduced earlier In response to questions, Berman The calamity and mass hysteria produced: this year in state legislatures that continued to contend that the rela- #1 Dance Single 1.2 million singles sold would have mandated warning labels tively quick action on the standard- on product." ized sticker was an outgrowth of #2 550,000 Albums sold Granberg also made it clear at the "talks with labels and retailers over The streets were buzzing throughout the fall and winter. press conference that most of the the last year" and not a response to state bills had either already been de- the threat of mandatory labeling by feated or had received little support. state lawmakers. THE RIOTS Granberg was standing in for her Berman said "each recording com- Then came the spring offensive with the successor, Pam Horovitz. pany, in consultation with its artists, On April 5, 13 state legislators will determine which of their record- follow -up domina-ïon of the second single agreed, with encouragement from ings will display the logo." the Parents' Music Resource Center, The RIAA also released the results Get Up. to withhold legislation in light of the of an independent national survey #1 Dance Single 700,000 singles sold RIAA pledge to standardize labeling. completed last month by the ICR Sur- Top 10 Billboard Album sales approaching However, four other lawmakers with vey Research Group. Hot 100 active bills in Delaware, Pennsylva- The results showed that while sev- 2 million nia, Florida, and Missouri refused to en out of 10 parents are concerned With the crush of news and media things were clearly getting out cf hanc. take part and met with Berman sepa- about the influence of some rock mu- rately to discuss the issue. sic lyrics on their children (and four Rep. Joseph Arnall, R -Fla., now out of 10 are "very concerned "), near- THE REVOLUTION says he will withdraw his bill because ly that same percentage feel that peo- Now, the third single of written assurances from the RIAA ple, rather than the media, were far about the standardized labeling. Rep. more important in influencing the This Beat Is V. George Carey, R -Del., on being values of children. is told of the RIAA unveiling, says he Fifty -two percent of the parents re- ready to take over the world. And, the revolution will have taken olace had hoped for a bright- yellow -on- sponded in favor of voluntary label- on television as Technotronic performed live, Friday May '1h, black colored label but had concluded ing, and an additional 22% thought no worldwide, from Houston, Texas, on an MTV Special to celebrate "half a loaf of bread is better than record labeling is needed at all. How- the opening night of their tour with . none." Carey said he "will probably ever, another 24% felt government strike my bill next week because I should mandate parental warning la- This is music This is a can't get it passed now, anyway." bels on records. you get phenomenon Rep. Ron Gamble, R -Pa., said after Berman called the new standard- hooked that's out of hearing the news that "in all proba- ized label a "refinement" of the label- on. control! bility we will let our bill die. In a ing system instituted in 1985 as a re- year's time, if we are not satisfied, sult of discussions with the Parents' we'll be going back to the drawing Music Resource Center. boards." The RIAA chief also said that he Jean Dixon, R -Mo., who was the ar- would be "continuing to talk to retail- chitect of the national stickering cam- ers" about working out methods by paign, saw her own state bill die in which parents could either listen to committee recently, but has not said problematic records or read the lyrics she will not reintroduce it. She was in stores. "There's a problem with unavailable for comment. lyric sheets because sometimes the At the press conference, Berman songs have different owners" other suggested that the industry sticker than the record labels, he noted.

ROCK HALL DISPUTE ARISES OVER RETAIL STORE (Continued from page 8) be reached for comment at press er that money will follow the project time, but Cleveland officials of the fa- if it is separated from Tower City. cility downplay the dispute. The mayor told the Cleveland Plain "I think we have a good site and all Dealer he did not know whether other issues are still being reviewed," building the project somewhere else Mayor Michael R. White says. Larry would affect the agreement, and he R. Thompson, executive director of has told his staff to look into the mat- the hall, suggests the disagreement ter. The mayor added that he did not may be resolved before New Yorkers consider the dispute a "major glitch." come to Cleveland to check out other Broadbent says "there had been possibilities. some discussion" between New York Robert R. Broadbent, chief fund- and Cleveland board members over raiser for the project and head of the the Record Town store last year, be- Cleveland board, says a New York fore Cleveland officials finally nailed contingent plans to visit Cleveland down the $40 million necessary to this month. If the New Yorkers convince their New York counter- choose another site and their Cleve- parts to keep the project in this north- land counterparts disagree, their op- ern Ohio city. erating agreement provides for an ar- Broadbent notes Tower City had bitrator to negotiate the issue, he leases to sign and could not wait on Produced by says. the hall "to make up their mind" be- Jo Bogaert for Reccds Broadbent concedes that changing fore signing Record Town to a 10- ARS Productions. SBA' the site could jeopardize a timetable year lease. Belgium /Clip Productions. that calls for ground to be broken in He says more than 500 feet would Belgium Additional Production AIRS by Steven Rosen and Darlington mid -October. The reason is that some separate the Record Town from the Daid 1990 SBK Re,ords. Inc. $18 million in tax -increment financing retail outlet in the hall and sees no for 23 West Productions. Inc. SBK Management/Rush Managenent fed by the Tower City project is tied reason the two facilities cannot coex- up in the hall, and it is unclear wheth- ist.

BILLBOARD MAY 19, 1990 81