CBS Cuts $ on CD Front -Lines
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iUI 908 (t,14 **,;t*A,<*fi,? *3- DIGIT 4401 8812 MAR90UHZ 000117973 MONTY GREENLY APT A TOP 3740 ELM 90P07 LONG BEACH CA CONCERTS & VENUES Follows page 56 VOLUME 100 NO. 13 THE INTERNATIONAL NEWSWEEKLY OF MUSIC AND HOME ENTERTAINMENT March 26, 1988/$3.95 (U.S.), $5 (CAN.) 3-Inch CD Gets Big Play Dealers Get A Big Spring Break As Majors Start Ball Rolling CD Front This story was prepared by Dave said Lew Garrett, vice president of CBS Cuts $ On -lines DiMartino and Geoff Mayfield. purchasing for North Canton, Ohio- will cut prices on selected black, front -line level and will translate based Camelot Music, speaking at a BY KEN TERRY country, and new artist releases and roughly to a $1 drop in wholesale LOS ANGELES The 3 -inch compact seminar. "Now, we're more excited LOS ANGELES In a surprise MCA plans to reduce the cost of its cost. At the same time, CBS will disk got major play at the National about it." move that may have a profound ef- country CD releases (see story, start offering new and developing Assn. of Record- Discussion among many label exec- fect on industry page 71), the CBS package repre- artist product at the $12.98 list ing Merchandis- utives shifted from general concerns pricing of com- sents the most comprehensive as- equivalent, which represents a ers convention with product viability to more specific pact disks, CBS wholesale cut of about $2. NAHM here March 11 -14. matters of packaging. One executive HARM Records plans to Teller keynote, p. 3 According to CBS Records Divi- Three major labels whose company will soon launch its begin offering a sion president Al Teller, who deliv- CDV plans set, p. 4 REPORT officially an- CD -3 line says the format's alterna- large portion of ered this news March 12 at the Na- nounced imminent tive -the 5 -inch CD single -is a REPORT its new CD re- NARM photos, p. 62 tional Assn. of Recording Merchan- product rollout "dead issue" among major labels. leases at prices disers convention here, the price and Sony introduced a new pocket - CBS, A &M, and CEMA will all lower than its current front -line sault on high CD prices to date. reductions will allow retailers "to sized 3 -inch CD player. have the minidisks in stores by May; cost. Beginning in April, the CBS - offer consumers exciting new re- Retailers at the show-many ini- WEA, which has already expressed Although superstar product owned labels -Columbia, Epic, Por- leases at prices affordable by all." tially skeptical of CD -3's sales poten- its enthusiasm for the configuration won't be included in the permanent trait, and the CBS Associated la- Teller also noted that the CD Spring tial- indicated heightened enthusi- (Billboard, March 5), now says it price reduction, all of CBS' full - bels -will bring out nearly all of Sales Bonanza dealer incentive pro- asm for the format. "Before [the hopes to have commercial CD -3 prod- priced CD product will be heavily their new black, country, jazz, and gram could create "mass- market Sony] presentation, our company's uct in stores by early in the third discounted in a special second -quar- midrange pop releases on CD at the prices" for CBS' front -line CDs. feeling was, we don't need them," quarter. ter promotion. list -price equivalent of $14.98. (Continued on page 71) (Continued on page 76) While WEA has announced that it That's $2 less than the current News At NARM ADVERTISEMENTS VSDA Blueprints Gives Trade Lots Support Program To Think About BY EARL PAIGE LOS ANGELES The Video Soft- ware Dealers Assn. is launching a BY GEOFF MAYFIELD major distributor support program LOS ANGELES The National Assn. that will tackle some of the whole- of Recording Merchandisers celebrat- sale community's toughest issues. ed its 30th anniversary in style dur- For example, VSDA's Distribu- ing its annual con- tor's Council, which informally as- vention here sembled here for the first time March 11 -14 at the March 15, is exploring a national NARM Century Plaza Ho- center that would process reported- tel, fetching the ly defective videocassettes. Some meeting's highest (Continued on page 71) REPORT attendance in nine years. The boost in registrations to 2,400 from 1,800 last year mirrored a gen- Take these ladies seriously. Very seriously. The POINTER HE TOOK FIVE TD GIVE YOU A TEN! 8 erally healthy industry-not surpris- SISTERS are doin' some SERIOUS SLAMMIN' 6562 -1-R, the No-man Connors s back with PASSION, his first album in five PUBLISH NG ing, considering the number of labels album that's springing into action with the first hit single years. Featuring de smash single "I'M YOUR MELODY" and MHSiC (Continued on page 77) HE TURNED ME OUT from the motion picture "Action vocals by Spence' Harrison & Gabrielle Goodman, this one was Jackson." And this is just the beginning- SERIOUS SLAMMIN' wo-th the wait! Prcduced by Norman Connors for Captain is h t year long. /BMG. More from NARM, pp. 40, 42, 78. gonna all RCA Connors Productions, Inc. Capitol. Follows page 52 FIER 55 WEEKS ON THE CHARTS RICKY VAN SHELTON'S DE :U IS APPR *4 HIT SINGLES - ._ó THE LAST TWO #1! *HOT TOUR THROUGH '88! . 1.-; WE ALL HAVE THE RIGHT" -THE FIF;rrr: A ROW FROM THE ALBUM! SHIPPING APRICW''' LTON 7 (/fF 100 tYEb po p's .:......:. 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Management: Roger Davies Management IN 01988 Capitol Records, in c. www.americanradiohistory.com ____________________,_ Teller Drops _ _ _ tom_ im_ _ -_ _ _ Blockbuster Hews = DI IDOad = - --- - - - -- -- - --- - --=- Keynoter Tells Of CBS' New Strategies -------- He announced a variable pricing Sales Bonanza incentive program - -- - BY IRV LICHTMAN ---- structure on front -line CDs set to will place in take the second quar- LOS ANGELES CBS Records begin in April, with black, country, ter, discounting more 430 VOLUME 100 than NO. 13 March 26, 1988 president Al Teller's NARM keynot- and jazz CDs carrying a wholesale front-line titles to four levels. er was a breakthrough address in price equivalent to a list of $14.98. Teller, active in the industry for SELL - THROUGH VIABLE YEAR-ROUND more ways than one. CDs from new and developing art- 20 of NARM's 30 years, not only sin- The word from panelists at media analyst Paul Kagan's recent round- In sketching a dramatic contrast ists will be cut to an equivalent gled out the cassette single and CD between the current industry and $12.98 list. table seminar in L.A. is that home video sell- through is now viable year - as examples of dramatic change, its state in 1958, Leaving the details for distribu- but also called attention to radio round, but it must post better margins at retail in order to grow. Page 47 when the music tion chief Paul Smith to reveal at (see story, this page), digital audio- business was a the label's product presentation the tape, and his own label's acquisition DIC And DAT: Ready To Go NARM "no-billion -dollar" following day, Teller had more by Sony in January. High -speed DAT duping has yet to begin, but New Jersey's DIC Digital industry, Teller's blockbuster news: A CD Spring (Continued on page 68) Supply Corp. 30th anniversary says it's the first firm ready to supply commercial DAT du- REPORT NARM conven- plicators with tape -in this case, either bulk pancakes or custom -length tion address here cassettes. Technology editor Steven Dupler reports. Page 53 March 12 portrayed a business be- ing carried by forceful "winds of Speech Raps Rock Radio TAX TIPS FOR ARTISTS, EXECS change." And to underscore his views, Tell- LOS ANGELES In perhaps the place to look for new artists, to dis- Wayne Mejia, a principal in a Beverly Hills CPA firm that specializes in er broke major CBS news on the most strongly worded passage of cover new music. AOR has largely services to the entertainment industry, offers last- minute tips on filing tax configuration front, where an in- his NARM keynote address, CBS become COR-catalog-oriented ra- returns for artists and entertainment execs. Page 63 dustry in transition is most appar- Records president Al Teller sharply dio. Much of it, the classic rock sta- ent. (Teller's reporting of "hard criticized album rock stations for tions, have chosen to chase the yup- Spotlight On Music Publishing Follows page 52 news" marked a departure from failing to program new music to pie generation to its grave." past keynoters, who have used their "the active mu- Turning to alternative and col- talks solely as a forum for philo- sic buyer." lege stations, Teller Concerts & Venues Special Follows page 56 declared: sophical perspectives on the indus- At the same "These young programmers are try.) time, Teller ap- NAHM not burdened by the computers and Teller revealed CBS' intentions to plauded alterna- consultants which have sapped so FEATURES market both cassette and 3 -inch tive- and college- much of AOR's courage and cre- compact disk singles (see stories, radio program- REPORT ativítÿ.