inside Opinion: Tape MUSIC WEEK & Manufacturers Group: Back down or backea up? 2 New product: HMV special offer on Rough Trade video Not Television, and big band nostalgia from Conifer and Geoff's rfk Records 2,3 No More Censorship Defence Fund ^ Retailing: The art of window displays 6 Indies: The Mekons 6 Disco: news and chart 10, Tl Classical: Philip Jones Brass I——.-y .. Ensemble blows 12 McNAY (LEFT) and Mills: pointing the way forward? Albums, singles charts 13,16 44 Indies lobby for BP! voice TWO BPI council members ore and urge all of the BPI's smaller actively lobbying to maintain an member companies to attend the independent voice on the council AGM and use their votes, or to at A & R C-Cat Trance rock the following the annual general meet- least vote on proxy forms. Casbah (above), plus the ing in July They have drawn up a loose brilliant minds behind Martin Mills of Beggar's Ban- manifesto for voting members to Furniture, publishing quet and Cherry Red's lain McNay consider which covers subjects of feature, Europarade and £1.50 U.S.$5 ISSN 0265-1548 both stand for re-election this year concern such as the charts, generic advertising, indie record dealers, reviews. Starts 14 exports, censorship, needletime, as Music On Video: New well as the general structure of the Order video imminent, plus LP prices down, but returns policy and settlement discount axed industry which they see as being reviews and chart 21 too conservative (see p4 for further Indies chart 22 coverage). Mills explains: "We want to get across to people what we can achieve. The BPI council is very much the territory of the four maiors." CBS rocks trade They emphasise that their move is in no way against the BPI and CBS IS changing the very fabric of turns will save on labour and admi- per cent of turnover for Our Price McNay says: "It's probably the Touring special: Queen its trading terms and Our Price's nistration costs and dealers are ex- in CBS album product. best record industry trade body in (pictured) amongst the rock Garry Nesbitt, for one, anticipates pected to reduce stocks through Woolworth's buyer Paddy the world — but it could be so acts moving with the a "rip-roaring battle" from July 1 regular cut-price sales. Toomey was still awaiting official much better. It's vital that there is a times 26-28 when the new terms are intro- Trade reaction to the moves is confirmation of the plans at press minimum of two of us on the coun- Dooley: first with the duced. almost universally hostile and Nes- time but says he's "not very happy cil who can raise important topics gossip 31 This fundamental restructuring bitt — who is engaged in a running about it", while his supplier Record that the BPI might not otherwise means the end of five per cent battle with CBS on several issues — Merchandisers has protested "in consider." returns for LP records and cassettes says; "They have squeezed the pip very strong terms" to CBS. Manag- Mills adds; "It's important for and also does away with what CBS too hard." He points out that CBS ing director Hassan Akhtar ados: companies to realise that the BPI is City buys up describes as the "archaic" 21/2 per has not dropped the price of its influential and does take decisions cent cash settlement discount, Nico Price series which can be 50 TO PAGE FOUR ► that affect the whole industry." switching to payment nett of 30 Pickwick stake days. The five per cent returns poli- cy is retained for seven and 1 2 A CITY consortium led by Roth- inch singles. Clip row staggers @n, s@ dees Ctarf Stew schild Ventures has acquired "a At the same time, however, the significant stake" in the Pickwick company is cutting the dealer price AS CHANNEL Four screened its tion that we're going to pay for bership over the handling of the Group, the distribution and mer- of its three main categories of pop second edition of The Chart Show videos. All I can say is that we're dispute, is understood not to have chandising enterprise headed by albums by approximately eight per since the BPI embargo on sup- putting out a Chart Show this week done so as Music Week went to Monty Lewis. cent, so that TV albums and casset- plying video clips to C4 and ITV and I don't know what will happen press. While Island Records, which Lewis and his family will con- tes (currently £3.99) will now be companies, little progress has been next week." supplied clips for inclusion for The tinue to hold 50 per cent of the £3.69, the Deluxe series (£3.89) made in the dispute over the princi- The Chart Show C4 was putting Chart Show on June 6, has issued a company's equity. Lewis founded will be £3.59, and the Standard ple of payments. together consisted of material from statement saying it supports the the business in 1958 and com- category (£3.69) will be £3.39. Phonographic Performance Ltd non-BPI members, with a few BPI's campaign but not the way it ments: "Pickwick has grown to be CBS believes the changes are has acknowledged that it is "in peripheral items such as Queen's has gone about it. one of Britain's largest recorded not only of direct benefit to .the communication" with C4, but the Friends Will Be Friends also in- "Island is in total agreement music companies, selling approx- retailer but will also further stimu- station itself says there is "no-one cluded. Queen claim to own the with the proposals the BPI are dis- imately 1 7.5m records and casset- late consumer demand for music. sitting in smoke-filled rooms". rights to their video, but investiga- cussing with the BBC and ITCA tes last year. We have now Under the new price structure the "It's an extremely tangled mat- tions are understood to be taking regarding use of commercial reached a stage where we are company reckons that dealers ter, with several bodies involved," place as to who holds the rights to videos," says managing director ready to exploit the many exciting maintaining the existing retail price said a C4 spokesman, minutes be- the sound recording. Clive Banks. "Our objection has new opportunities in the home lei- levels will make extra profit and fore Friday's show was due to be Miles Copeland's IRS label, always been the lack of foresight sure field, including compact disc benefit from greater price competi- screened. "I'm not aware of any which last week announced that it and video." tion with imports. The loss or re- progress and there is no sugges- would be resigning its BPI mem- TO PAGE FOUR ► o Full details next week. * m \ (yvw ikt /fuU -f * NEW 7"& 12" SINGLE no' conversatio IVodurcd by Sli'uart I.cvine J OUT NOW (12) KM 1 .")(>.■) / /->Dr>tD Kjnw FROM EMI TELEPHONE SALES AREA A: 01-561 4646 SCOTLAND NORTHERN ENGLAND NORTH WALES ISLE OF MAN AREA B: 01-848 9811 MIDLANDS AND THE NORTH ym AREA c-01 sn 3891 SOUTH MIDLANDS SOUTH WALES AREA D: 01 561 2888 LONDON EaST^ANGUAJCENT^REA^OI^M^T^OUTH^NDON^SOUTHERT^^ lack down or backed up? I AM afraid that your story "TMG music-cassettes, as well as non- the anti-levy case, I feel it's worth backs down on home taping copyright material. considering them further. On the claims" will only serve to mislead The question remains: having "paying again to listen to the same rather than inform your readers. paid for the original item, why material " question, would the same Allow me to state the facts: should the public have to pay logic apply to people paying to go NOP's survey into audio tape again, through a levy, for the pri- to the cinema and plugging in a usage revealed some very interest- vilege of listening to the same VCR to tape the movie so that they ing data, which, in our opinion, material on a different medium? could watch it again later? They substantially undermined the case And why should people who use would after all be merely enjoying r- for a levy. These points were tape for, say, business purposes, the same material on a different summarised in our press release such as journalists, be forced to medium. and were developed, in journalistic contribute to the income of copy- On the survey's findings that fashion, by comment from a TMG right owners even though their use heavy buyers of tape are also like- spokesman. of that tape has nothing whatsoev- ly to be heavy buyers of records, To ensure that these comments er to do with copyright works? surely that only indicates that tape were understood to be "opinion", The survey also undermines the buying does nothing to damage DAVID BOWIE as he appears in Labyrinth: soundtrack out soon they were enclosed in quotation BPi's argument that home taping the interests of the copyright own- marks and attributed to the TMG damages the interests of record ers. It proves nothing either way spokesman, as is normal (ournalis- companies and other copyright about the effect of home taping — tic practice. owners. Fact: people who spend The Editor. Although NOP has agreed total- the most on blank tope (three or Film/TV pomSict ly with our summary of the survey more cassettes a month) spend ab- findings, they did not see the press out five times as much on records release until it had been issued, as light buyers of tape.