ICD08120 01066048024BE MAR86 10 MONTY GREENLY 03 USA For Africa album 3740 ELM UCY LONG BEACH CA 90807 debuts at No. 9; single holds at No. i See pages 70, 74 Black up, metal down in RIAA certifications See page 4 "Gone With The Wind" tops Video Sales chart See page 32 APRIL 20, 1985/$3.50 (U.S.) VOLUME 97 NO. 16 THE INTERNATIONAL NEWSWEEKLY OF MUSIC AND HOME ENTERTAINMENT Despite Some Complaints About Fill Top RCA/Columbia Videos DEALERS CHEER `WORLD' ALBUM Return at $29.95 list This story prepared by Earl Paige even know the songs or the artists At CBS, sources verify the rush in Los Angeles and Kip Kirby in [on 'We Are The World']." for product, reporting that both the "Stripes" and "Kramer" for $89.95 Nashville. Sam Ginsburg, City One -Stop Carrollton, Ga. and Pitman, N.J. BY TONY SEIDEMAN each. LOS ANGELES USA For Africa's manager in Los Angeles, says inde- manufacturing plants are working NEW YORK RCA /Columbia Pic- The RCA /Columbia move comes "We Are The World" album has pendent stores of all types are sell- overtime to press and duplicate LPs tures Home Video is going to re -re- at a time when some studies con- generated dramatic consumer de- ing the album in Southern Califor- and cassettes. The company is said lease some of its top titles at $29.95, clude that sell- through efforts have mand since its release at the begin- nia: "They're r &b stores, heavy to have shipped approximately 2.7 in a promotion that will see list been less effective than had been ning of the month, report retailers metal, all kinds." As for supply, million units of the album on re- prices on some features drop by as believed in getting consumers into and wholesalers nationwide. The Ginsburg says, "It's out one day, in lease. much as $60. the habit of buying. Columbia Records release debuts on the next." (Continued on page 73) The titles involved are the feature RCA /Columbia president Rob Billboard's Top Pop Albums chart Indeed, the market activity is cre- films RCA /Columbia pulled off the Blattner says he's unworried, main- this week at a bulleted number nine. ating fill problems. Observes Nor- market a few weeks ago (Billboard, taining that the constraints apply Buyer Jim Kirkpatrick at Central man Hunter at 160 -unit Record Bar March 23): "Tootsie," "Close En- more to recent -release feature films South, Nashville, speaking for the in Durham, N.C., "We're only sell- ASCAP /Radio counters Of The Third Kind," "Kra- than to the re- released product he 51 Sound Shop stores, says, "We're ing about 50% of what we could sell mer Vs. Kramer," "Annie," will be marketing. And he cautions noticing ... a whole stream of peo- on this. Our current backorder from Rate Hassle "Stripes" and "Blue Thunder." that this effort is a promotion, and ple who haven't been in a record CBS is about 45,000 units." At Rec- "Tootsie," "Blue" and "Annie" does not mean RCA /Columbia will store in years." Remarks buyer ord Shop, the Minneapolis -based regularly retail for $79.95, "Close be releasing new movies at low Lloyd Welch at Detroit chain Har- chain, Jeff Louden laments, "With Goes to Court Encounters" for $84.95, and prices. mony House: "It's doing a lot of just two shipping points [for CBS], "I think that's a totally separate good, though I realize it's taking ad- it's difficult to assess. There's a BY IS HOROWITZ issue," Blattner says, commenting vantage of a bad situation. We're five- to ten -day turnaround on or- (Continued on page 73) seeing people come in who don't ders." NEW YORK The dispute between Times Are Tough radio stations and the American So- ADVERTISEMENTS ciety of Composers, Authors & Pub- For More Modest lishers (ASCAP) over performance rates is headed for the Federal Dis- Video Distributors trict Court here, after three years of futile bargaining for a new li- NEW YORK Smaller home video cense agreement. distributors, heavily buffeted by The All- Industry Radio Music Li- changes in the rapidly growing cense Committee, bargaining agent home video marketplace, now face for the broadcasters, blames the the removal by CBS /Fox Video and breakdown in talks last week on de- MGM /UA Home Video of a total of mands by ASCAP for an increase in five wholesalers from their autho- rates of about 8.8 %. This would cost rized distributor lists. the industry more than $60 million The actions are seen as the culmi- in additional fees over the next five nation of one of the most turbulent years, the committee asserts. first quarters in home video history. According to the committee, cu- Since late 1984, two distributors mulative payments to ASCAP and have filed for bankruptcy under Broadcast Music Inc. (BMI) to- Chapter XI, two have seen owner- talled more than $90 million in 1984. ship changes, and one has experi- Rates paid ASCAP were frozen at enced a near total turnover of its 1982 levels on an interim basis pend- top management staff. ing agreement on a new contract, What manufacturers are saying but with provision for retroactive Follow the tracks into "The Great Unknown." Ten tracks that The 3M New Talent Award in Music Videc, at the AFI Television is that the smaller distributors no will lead you through the debut album from Nomo. "The Great Workshop, was announced on the 3rd annual American Video adjustments. longer match their criteria for the Unknown" offers unlimited musical possibilities. "'Red Lipstick" Awsrds telecast, now being syndicated around the country. This Observers suggest that conclu- manner in which the home video in- is the single. Nomo is the band. On Atco Records and Cas- prestigious new grant is funded by 3M Magnetic /Audio /Video sion of a pact between radio and dustry should work; that the small settes. Prcds. Div. (I. -r. Mick Kennedy, Dir. of the Nat'l. Acad. of Video BMI last summer calling for in- Art and Sciences, 3M's Tom Kenny, actor Nicholas Cage (Cot - on page 78) (Continued on page 78) (Continued tor Club), James Hindman and Victoria Costello, AFI). HOT FLASH!! , the first single from FLASH KAHAN, is rocking radio everywhere and retail's feeling the heat. - O fV 1co t` O 0T0ß CITY UN S KA HA NFIRE D UPF OROIßY www.americanradiohistory.com sellsvi records! New Research Proves It! In a nationwide survey. The Street Pulse Group, a leading independent research firm in the music industry, surveyed record stores in 15 major markets and the response to VH -1 was overwhelmingly positive! Street Pulse asked record store owners if VH -1 airplay and promotion had a positive effect on sales of five specific artists. The reaction? VH -l's positive effect on record sales: Album Positive Artist Effect Sade 94% Commodores 77% Linda Ronstadt 72% Cats 58% Kim Carnes 42% "It's really astounding. In the markets where VH -1 is in a substantial number of homes, everything indicates it has an immediate effect on record sales." Mike Shalett President Street Pulse Group Since our launch in January, we've heard from retailers, artists' managers and record company executives that VH -1 has had a positive impact on record sales. Now we have the quantitative data to prove it. Plus, now that we're in 6 million cable homes and growing fast we'll extend VIDEO HITS ONE our promotional value and impact for you. Source: The Street Pulse Group Retail Research 1985 MTV Networks Inc. Study, March 1985. www.americanradiohistory.com RIAA Certifications By label /Distributor A listing of the combined labels and distributors that tallied the most RIAA certifications in the first quar- N S SSUE ter of 1985, by category. The number in parentheses is the comparable total for the first quarter of '84. PLATINUM ALBUMS GOLD ALBUMS PLATINUM ALBUMS GOLD ALBUMS VOLUME 97 NO. 16 APRIL 20, 1985 By Combined Label By Combined Label By Distributor By Distributor 1. Atlantic, 5 (3) 1. Warner Bros., 7 (2) 1. WEA, 10 (5) 1. WEA, 12 (7) report tremendous 1 NEWS .Despite some complaints, dealers 2. Warner Bros., 4 (1) 2. Columbia, 4 (7) 2. CBS, 3 (3) 2. CBS, 7 (13) response to the "We Are The World" album. 0-RCA/Columbia Pic- 2 3. 3 EMI, 3 (1) 3. RCA, 4 (4) tures Home Video re- releasing top titles at $29.95 list. ASCAP 3. Capitol, (1) Atlantic, (4) and radio stations taking their performance rate dispute to court. Epic, 2 (0) Capitol, 3 (2) RCA, 3 (0) 4. EMI, 3 (2) 0-3 /The Smaller home video distributors facing tough times. 5. A &M, 1 (0) 5. Arista, 2 (2) 5. MCA, 1 (3) MCA, 3 (4) number of platinum albums soared in the first quarter of 1985. Arista, 1 (0) Elektra /Asylum, 2 (1) 6. PolyGram, 2 (3) 0-Wham!'s visit to China was reportedly a costly trip. 4 /Sandi Pat- ti the big winner at Dove Awards. 6 /An all -star Latin group hopes Chrysalis, 1 (1) Epic, 2 (5) to raise "millions" to fight hunger with its new single; gospel and EMI America, 1 (0) MCA, 2 (2) heavy metal artists also do their part. 0-80 /New York man charged 1 (1) PolyGram, 2 (3) with 636 counts related to record piracy. Elektra /Asylum, 4 Executive Turntable 62 Latin MCA, 1 (2) 10. A &M, 1 (1) 51, 67 Newsmakers 68 Album & Singles Reviews RCA, 1 (0) Chrysalis, 1 (1) 59 Dance Trax 79 On the Beam Motown, 1 (2) 60 Gospel 79 Grass Route RCA, 1 (1) 60 Jazz 80 Inside Track 62 Classical 9 INTERNATIONAL .West German composers, lyricists, artists and music publishers are joining in a nationwide anti- copying cam- paign.