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HAPPY HOLIDAYS!W I L L Y O U S T I L L N E E D M E W H E N I ' M 6 4 :

THE BATTLE OVER MANDATORY RETIREIVIENT IN POP MUSIC

As we speak, record company repsr €rn army of lawyers, rad io and TV execs andmembers of the enter ta inment d is t r ibut ion channels are convening in one ofthe mos t con t rove rs ia l and po ten t i a l l y uncons t i t u t i ona l caba l i s t i c endeavorseve r pe rpe t ra ted on the mus ic bus iness - a manda to ry re t i r emen t sys tem fo rpop mus ic s ta rs . Rumors o f t h i s p lan have c i r cu la ted i n t he i ndus t r y f o ryea rs bu t t he v iny l h i t t he tu rn tab le i n 1 986 , when a p le tho ra o f ag ingrocke rs c rea ted a l og jam on the mus ic cha r t s . [A&R readers ] re re t i pped toth i s po ten t i a l cha r t imba lance back i n Feb rua ry - see i sh 27 , "Why we Hear tHear t : The Sa fe ty o f H i -Tech Re t ro Rock " lThe return of wr ink le- rockers l ike the Moody Blues and Chicago vras madeposs ib le by a sagg ing rad io demograph ic and an i nc reas ing re l i ance onname-b rand fam i l i a r i t y . Add to th i s t he consumer e lec t ron i cs i ndus t r y ' spreference for the low-overhead h igh-prof i t marg in of remarketed andrepackaged ca ta logue i t ems on new fo rma ts ( i . e . CD and v ideo ) and you s ta r tt o unders tand why we a re i n t he g r i ps o f a ge r ia t r i c rock cha r t - I ock . Th i sco-opt ing of the d is t r ibut ion network poses an economic danger - as the

Cont inued on Page 4

FROM th6 Ed.itorWHATTA YEAR! - I t 's been another incredib le yearfor The A&R Repor t . Readership increased over 30percent and we successfu l ly launched our specia lproducts d iv is ion ( thanks for a l l the t -sh i r torders expect sh ipment in January! ) . Theexci tement is a lso mount ing for publ icat ion of"The New Pr ivacy: The Essent ia l Essays ' which should be avai t f ;Sf ! i '::-{!t"::T=l.9Tt November. But our "ul".s" is tempered by some unfortunate

l3i3i:-opl:r:::1l l lmglfca's rop ren'has moved and we hav6 no r"r"Jli i igaddress for Casey or Jean.BEAUTIFUL DREAMERS - Th i s i sh we beg in a new fea tu re , "A&R 's Rock D feams , , ,ap rob ing and i ns igh t fu l co l l ec t i on o i ac tua l , ve r i f i ab le noc tu rna l i n te r l -udesstarr ing wel l -known rock music personal i t ies. Each of these dreams has been"exper ienced"

by a member of ou i s taf f and recreaLed in i ts ent i re ty . Nexti sh , we d ream ou r way i n to a p r i nce te rephone ca r r !Bes t w ishes i n i 987 -E leven to a l1 ou r readers - r t ' s gonna be a co ld w in te rs o d o n ' t g e t f r o s t e d !

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In your "1986 Thanksgiving Award" issue you

erroneously relrcrted that 7-11 Coffee Club mqnbers

have their cup filled free. The charge for mernbers

is 30f as opposed to 60f for non-mernbers.

I gonna let you go this time but noct tinre Ibreaka you face.

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"Ret i rement" (cont inued f rom page 1 )

industry may lose i ts most impor tant commodi ty f resh b lood.Recogniz ing th is , the music bus iness is prepar i -ng a system of mandatoryret i rement for pop stars , the deta i ls o f which are expected to inc lude thefo l l ow ing :( 1 ) ISDATORY RETIREMENT - The plan is expected to apply to any popar t is t reaching the age of 49 (or age 55 for rockers who have been record ingfo r l ess than 10 yea rs a t t he t ime the p roposa l i s enac ted ) . The p lan w i l lno t app ly to pop / rock a r t i s t s w i th to ta l cumu la t i ve U .S . sa les under1 r 0 0 0 r 0 0 0 u n j - t s o r t o a r t i s t s w h o ! ; e m a r k e t i s p r i m a r i l y ( m o r e t h a n 6 0percen t ) coun t r y o r B lack .( 2 ) WHAT IS RETIREIIENT? - "Ret i rement" means complete cessat ion of a l lrecord ing and per forming act iv i ty . However , ar t is ts are not prohib i ted f romhir ing younger look-a l ike per formers to use the i r name or otherwise carry onthe i r ca ree r (as the Monkees w i l l a t t empt i n 1987 ! - . S im i l a r l y , su rg i ca lre juvena t ion ( such as tha t be ing accomp l i shed i n the S ta rsh ip ) i s accep tab leprov ided that the to ta l median age of the band remains below 39 years.( 3 ) WHAT ABOUT ENDORSEMENTS AND IIEECI{ANQI€E? - Limited performing rights wil lbe reta ined by the ret i red ar t is t for the purpose of endorsement prov idedtha t such pe r fo rmances a re no t re leased fo r genera l d i s t r i bu t i on (e .g . LouReed s ing ing i n a Honda ad i s pe rm i t t ed as l ong as the song i sn ' t r e leasedfo r sa le ) . Merchand is ing r i gh ts a re re ta ined by the re t i r ed a r t i s t and can beexp lo i t ed , so ld r o r t rans fe r red by dev i semen t .( 4 ) WHAT WILL THE RECORD COMPANTIIS GIVE UP? - In order to seII this programto ag ry is prepared to double pubf is f r ingroyal t ies and quadruple a l l per forming and record royal t ies at the t ime ofret i rement . In addi t ion, per forming r ights soc iet ies such as BMI and ASCAPwi l r c rea te " sen io r " ca tego r ies to admin i s te r t he new sys tem.(5 ) r s r r ENFORCEABLE? - Acco rd ing to mus ic b i z l ega l sou rces , t hen o n - @ m e n t o f t h e p I a n i s n o t u n c o n s t i t u t i o n a l . C i t i n g t ocase. Iaw and precedent , the lawyers are prepared to argue that there is nobasic s tatutory r ight to rock and ro l l and that as long as musj -c ians are f reeto exp ress themse lves w i th in o the r f o rma ts ( i . e . "New Ager " "Adu1 tcon tempora ry r " and "Gospe l " ) t he re i s no res t r i c t i on on speech .( 6 ) THE IMPACT - The proposed industry p lan wi l l have an immediate ef fect onmany per formers. Ar t is ts such as T ina Turner and Rob Hal ford of Judas Pr iest( rumored to be 53 ) w i I I f ace an unce r ta in fu tu re . O the rs , such as the Ro l l i ngStones, have prepared for the inev i tab le by secret ly record ing wi th a youngerrhy thm sec t i on . Wha teve r t he e f fec t r w€ w lsh ou r ag ing pops ta r f r i ends thebest o f luck in the i r go lden years and we know that we can a lways count onthem to keep the "o ld " i n "good o ld rock and ro l l t ' .

Lllt,rmenr /my,iJAward )our employees, someone gecial (ewn punelt). . .with a personalized "gold" (or_ -platinum) record likethe ones iecodiru stars-receive'

Print any message on our record label (Excepdonal orFoEet-MeNot); Engrave any inscription on our brassplaqle. Your handsomely mounted record is the perfectgift for any errent-weddings, binhd46, anniversaries (agreat way to say I Love You!), retiremenE, employeea,vards and incentives !

LP (175.00) approximately 1 2h" xl 5h "

The 45 ($55.00) approximatelv 814 "xl0h "

l. HAY ENTERPRISES. 8l8'884''*735?.o. Box 8084. CALABASAt cA 91302

Lac Holklay Ordr Date l2'l 8.Gll or Write about our other Per:onalized Gift hems

Quantity discount prices and rustr orders cordialV rcepted

What bet ter way to saythanks than in "uni ts

s o l d " . H e r e ' s a p l a t t e rt h a t ' s r e a l l y g o n n amat te r t o t ha t spec ia lsomeone. Forget thelov ing cup , t h i sone-d imensionals ta temen t w i l l l i ven upany wal l and le t thewor ld know who 's a t t hetop of your char ts !Next ish - we rev iewMood Lips' i : i"ck

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