One" Peter Frampton
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
IN THIS ISSUE T 000817973 4401 9003TMAF9OXGZ Who Are The Top MONTY GREENLY AFT Nominees For This 3740 ELM Year's Grammys? LCNG BEACH CA 9 C 8C7 PAGE 6 DAT Comes On Strong At Winter CES I PAGE 4 Musicians May Strike January 20, 1990/$4.50 (U.S.),r $5.50 (CAN.), £3.50 (U.K.) THE INTERNATIONAL NEWSWEEKLY OF MUSIC AND HOME ENTERTAINMENT Over Label Funding PAGE 4 No Milli Vinyli; Studios Face New SeIIThru Reality 2nd Helpings Of Major Titles Fall Short Of Projections BY PAUL SWEETING diana Jones And The Last Crusade," The biggest disappointment ap- Top LPs Scarce "Lethal Weapon 2," and "Honey, I pears to be Warner Home Video's NEW YORK -The initial results Shrunk The Kids" could be as much "Lethal Weapon 2." When final or- . BY BRUCE HARING from three low- priced first -quarter ti- as 10 million units below what their ders close this week, according to and ED CHRISTMAN tles indicate that the studios may suppliers had projected. wholesaler sources, the studio will need to re-evaluate their expectations The three titles are being closely have prebooked approximately 2 mil - NEW YORK -For the first time, for the sell -through market beyond watched by the industry for indica- lion-2.5 million units -well below the the No. 1 album on Billboard's the holiday selling season. According tions of whether direct -to -sell- roughly 7.5 million Warner was re- Top Pop Albums chart is no longer to early estimates from distributors, through can be a viable strategy on a portedly seeking. available in vinyl, and retailers are rackjobbers, and direct accounts, the large scale during any period other So far below expectations are the FOLLOWS PAGE 70 reporting that other hit vinyl al- combined opening shipments on "In- than the fourth quarter. initial orders, well -placed sources bums are becoming increasingly say, that in discussions with rack and Ryko Lets Distribs difficult to reorder. direct accounts at the recent Consum- The vinyl version of Milli Vanil- er Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Say `No' To Longbox li's "Girl You Know It's True" was Warner executives broached the pos- Record-Labeling Bills Eyed PAGE 4 deleted by Arista in November, a sibility of scuttling the idea of sell - move the company says was through altogether and introducing prompted by high returns in the "Lethal Weapon 2" at some later date Eastern Bloc Hopes configuration. In At Least 6 More States as a rental title with a list price of Retailers report they are also BY BILL HOLLAND sponsored the labeling measure in $89.98. To Make Beautiful experiencing delays in obtaining her state. All of the proposed laws The sources took a dim view of second helpings of other hit titles WASHINGTON, D.C. -Legislators would require large warning or pa- such an abrupt policy change, citing Music At MIDEM in vinyl, and note that orders that from 15 states are investigating the rental advisory labels on albums con- the chaos it would cause in the mar- PAGE 11 do arrive are often short of the re- possibility of introducing record la- taining certain kinds of lyrics. ket and the blow it could deliver to quested number of pieces. beling bills similar to the three al- Of eight state legislators contacted Warner's future credibility. "I think Howard Appelbaum, president ready proposed in Pennsylvania, Mis- by Billboard, three -in Maryland, they would be seriously jeopardizing of the 32 -store Kemp Mill Records souri, and Florida, according to Mis- Delaware, and Kansas-have said (Continued on page 85) (Continued on page 76) souri Rep. Jean Dixon, who (Continued on page 85) ADVERTISEMENTS Billboard Debuts 111-1119A 99 FOLLOWS PAGE 54 Monitored Airplay No. 1 IN BILLBOARD On Country Chart HOT 100 SINGLES NASHVILLE week Billboard * HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO LIVE -This WITHOUT YOU introduces its first chart based on a MICHAEL BOLTON (COLUMBIA) new technology for tracking airplay TOP POP ALBUMS that will provide the highest degree * ...BUT SERIOUSLY of accuracy ever available in measur- PHIL COLLINS (ATLANTIC) songs by radio. HOT BLACK SINGLES ing the exposure of * I'LL BE GOOD TO YOU The process - developed by Broad- QUINCY JONES FEATURING RAY cast Data Systems -is unveiled on CHARLES & CHAKA KHAN (QWEST) the Hot Country Singles chart (see TOP BLACK ALBUMS * TENDER LOVER page 56). The system tracks airplay BABYFACE (SOLAR) of songs 24 hours a day, seven days a HOT COUNTRY SINGLES week in markets where monitors * NOBODY'S HOME have been installed by BDS. The CLINT BLACK (RCA) TOP COUNTRY ALBUMS monitors identify each song played * NO HOLDIN' BACK by an encoded audio "fingerprint." RANDY TRAVIS (WARNER BROS.) Plans call for the system to be used TOP VIDEO SALES TAKE A LITTLE leap with Balsam & The Angel into these Days on additional Billboard charts later * BATMAN (WARNER HOME VIDEO) producer Of Madness. Recorded in San Francisco with Steve this year. For an explanation of the TOP VIDEO RENTALS COMING SOON: "BLUE SKY MINING" The new album Brown, Balaam's new album takes off with the hard -edged single * WHEN HARRY MET SALLY... featuring the single, BLUE SKY MINE. ON COLUMBIA. "I TOOK A LITTLE." Take a listen on Virgin Records. new system, see page 58. (NELSON HOME ENT.) "MORE WAYS PRT0HAN ONE" co CS.1 the new track by uTh ó PETER FRAMPTON ti from the album WHEN ALL THE PIECES FIT (820301 On Atlantic Records, Cassettes and Compact Discs 1990 Atlantic Recording Corp,' A Warner Commanicolions Co. www.americanradiohistory.com ©1990 US Records Inc www.americanradiohistory.com 4t4447 -14reoCte(e-#;f:L, www.americanradiohistory.com Copy -Protected DAT Units Bow At CES Finns Unveil This story was prepared by Susan available in the U.S. market within ferred to wait until legislation that to the time [when DAT decks are Nunziata and Jim McCullaugh in the first six months of 1990. A mandates the solo -copy SCMS chip scheduled to ship]. It's not a deci- New Weapons In Las Vegas and Ken Terry in N. Y. source outside the company trans- is passed by Congress. sion we've made yet." lates that as meaning April; but a Jay Berman, president of the Re- Regarding the possibility that Vid -Game `War' LAS VEGAS-Although only three spokesman at company headquar- cording Industry Assn. of America, some units may appear on the mar- manufacturers announced any mar- ters in Park Ridge, N.J., says "mid- one of the participants in the DAT ket as early as April, he adds, BY DAVE DIMARTINO keting or pricing summer" is the projected date. pact with the electronics companies, "That's a very short time frame." plans, DAT re- Meanwhile, Panasonic's Technics di- says that bill could be introduced by He also emphasizes that the RIAA LAS VEGAS-A press release de- corders made a vision is slated to begin shipping the end of this month. Having earli- will carry out its earlier threat to claring "war" on video game man- CES much bigger units in June or July, and Teac's Es- er predicted it would be passed as sue any company that brings in con- ufacturer Nintendo, issued by splash than ex- oteric wing expects to have a ma- early as April, he now says, "I sumer DAT machines without the competitor Sega on the eve of the REPORT pected at this chine available here in April. would hope it wouldn't take six SCMS device. Winter Consumer Electronics year's Winter The Sony and Technics recorders months. I hope it could be resolved It is not clear when the electron- Show here Jan. 6-9, was a timely Consumer Elec- will retail for $1,200 -$1,400 when within a shorter time than that." ics manufacturers developed the illustration of just how firmly en- tronics Show in Las Vegas (Jan. 6- they hit the market. The Teac ma- But he adds that Congress has SCMS chip, which was only on the trenched Nintendo's system has 9). Not only were DAT decks plenti- chine, geared to audiophiles, will many other issues on its plate, and drawing boards last summer. But become in the U.S. video game ful on the show floor, but most of have a suggested list price of that, in this election year, the body Sony reportedly perfected its chip marketplace -and how competi- the new models already contained $7,000. is scheduled to take several long re- just before CES. Whether or not tion in the industry is rapidly heat- the just -developed Serial Copy Man- Among the other manufacturers cesses. other companies licensed the tech- ing up. agement System chip that is an inte- displaying DAT machines at CES Under the DAT agreement, the nology from Sony was not known at Generally acknowledged as gral part of last summer's DAT were JVC, Pioneer's Elite division, parties are supposed to seek SCMS press time. However, a Sony having an 80% share of the video pact between the hardware and Aiwa, Denon, Sanyo, Casio, Gold- legislation in the U.S. and other spokesman notes, "It's not a propri- game market, Nintendo now software industries. star, Samsung, and Sharp. These countries, and there is an under- etary chip. It was proposed as some- faces challenges on two separate Sony personnel at CES said the companies offered no concrete mar- standing that DAT units will not be thing that would be widespread and fronts. company would have DAT players keting plans, noting that they pre- exported to the U.S.