The Boss and the Bottom Line (2024)

CBS recently sold its song publishing division to a group of industry veterans headed by Charles Koppelman, Stephen C. Swid and Martin Bandier for $ 125 million, and there are reports that CBS is also trying to sell off its radio holdings. And while no one's talking on the record, there is a persistent rumor that the records group either has been or will be purchased by a group headed by current CBS Records Group President Walter Yetnikov and CBS Records President Al Teller for about $ 1 billion on a leveraged buy-out. The official line, from CBS spokeswoman Ann Luzzatto, is, "[CBS] Records has not been put up for sale, but a number of parties have expressed interest in buying it."

In 1985, CBS Group gross revenues were $ 1.2 billion, with profits of $ 87.2 million. CBS has already announced numbers for the first three quarters of 1986: $ 100.6 million profit off revenues of more than $ 1 billion.

Incidentally, first-day reorders for the Springsteen set totaled more than 800,000, bringing the total up to 2.5 million.

'Graceland's' Unsung Success

Paul Simon's "Graceland," mostly recorded in South Africa with South African musicians, has earned perhaps the best reviews of any album Simon has made. And at 800,000 copies sold, "Graceland" is quickly closing in on becoming his first platinum solo album and has some industry veterans predicting it will win this year's best album Grammy.

But radio has yet to get behind it.

"Behind is where they are," says Bob Merlis, vice president of promotion for Warner Bros. "But they're catching up because there's such a groundswell of support for the album. It will not be denied."

"Graceland" is a rarity -- a record that has become a major commercial hit based almost entirely on good reviews, word-of-mouth and Simon's willingness to talk about his experiences in South Africa. His visit and his use of black South African musicians, despite a U.N.-sanctioned cultural boycott of that nation, has provoked some impassioned debate -- in England, Jerry Dammers, whose "Free Nelson Mandela" has long been an antiapartheid anthem, lashed out at Simon, while South African expatriate Hugh Masekela vigorously defended him.

Says Merlis, "Simon's been so sensitive to the political situation that he sort of preempted it by having all the answers up front."

"The irony," says Merlis, "is there's a bunch of stations who were not really convinced about 'You Can Call Me Al' [the first single], so they added it and quickly took it off. But after the video came out [with Chevy Chase standing in for Simon, who hates videos], there was so much interest they went back on it, even though the new single is 'Graceland.' "

Album-oriented radio (AOR) is the only genre that's really given "Graceland" a shot; few black stations are playing it, says Merlis, who says that the few that have simply haven't been reporting to the trade journals.

"It's an image thing," Merlis says, "because of the kind of artist he is, rather than the South African thing." This despite the fact that the "Homeless" video had been played a lot on black-oriented video programs.

Now, there's a good chance that Simon will go on tour with what's being described as an African revue that would probably include Ladysmith Black Mambazo, the outstanding vocal group featured on "Graceland." Simon's hope, apparently, is to make the different elements of the album come alive on stage.

Record Lobby on the Move

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), which will move its headquarters to Washington this spring, has named its new president, Jason S. (Jay) Berman. For the past six years Berman has served as vice president of public affairs for Warner Communications Inc.'s Washington office. Before that he operated his own public relations and lobbying firm here, and was once an aide to former senator Birch Bayh and staff director of the Senate subcommittee on constitutional amendments.

The appointment was announced by the group's current president, Stanley Gortikov, who will become chairman of the RIAA board in January when Berman officially assumes the presidency. Berman was reportedly chosen for his experience in both the political and entertainment fields, which will come in handy as the recording industry faces a turbulent agenda, with legislation in development or already before Congress on piracy and counterfeiting in Third World countries; the continuing threat of new technology coming from Japan, particularly Digital Audio Tape; and home-taping and royalty issues.

It's also expected that the RIAA will link up with the Motion Picture Association of America, long established in Washington, to dovetail energies on such shared issues as copyright infringement and home taping.