UNENDING THRILLER Vol . 2 Ish 27

F,nter ta innent indLtst ry o ld-Tiners nay not see nuch of a connect ion between megatron safes

of Michael Jackson,s Thr i f ier aTbum and the expanding worTd of fu tur is t ic enter ta inment

t inn ickry. But r t r -s no accident that Thr iTTer is doninat ing the char ts at a t ine when, onned-suners are lse ing force- fed both d ig i taT d isc recording and nodem connected hone

:onputer T ink-ups. Nor was the t in ing of the AT&T re-organizat ion, (n is takenTy TabeTed as

, t d 'e-nonopoTizat ion bv the un-wary press) nere ly coinc identaT wi th the reTease of

l h r i l Te r . I hese seen ingJy un re fa ted fac to rs ( conpu te r phone connec t i ons , subsc r i p t i on

.-1one serv ice, d isc recording technoTogy) are actuaTTy paving the way for a new age in

ed ia en te r ta innenL - an age when the, ,11v -by - the -sea t -o f - r , ou r -pan ts -and -see - i f - t he -pub l i c -b i t es " t yp . o f p rono t i on i s g i v i ng

. , .ur i to a predictable forn of narket ing based upon carefuf nedia research '' h r i l l e r

i s ne re l r , t he f i r s t o f a new t ype o f r eco rd based upon Subsc r i p t i on - no t saTes '' ' na t t s

r i gh t . We to ld you f i r s t ! How does i t wo rk?

) MichaeL Jackson announces in 7985 that he wi77 no Tonger reTease any new albuns- .et+, s ingf es. us ing the nassive in ternat ionaT base of record buyers who aTready own'3 r i l l e r ,

he anno rn . " r t ha t o l -d cop ies o f h i s f i r s t a fbun can be t raded i n f o r new

onTy

copies

f Thr i l ler . The only d i f ference is that the new copies wi l7 feature one or two new

. ing les bunp ing one o r two o f t he o lde r cu t s . CBS w iTT teba te t h3 ,?1d aTbu* t . TYe '

Con t i nued on Page j

FROM th6 Ed.itor: nne r ' s ove r and s ' t , ' r e no t say ing We- to ld -you -so bu t'nucto f inaTTy broke Aner ican Top 40 ( See A&R isb f5 -

' e t Ready fo r U -Know-Ju7 io : The De-Ba fkan i za t i on o f: e r i c a n P o p M u s i c ' ) . T h e f i r s t s r e p s i n t h e n u T t i -' L i ona f i za t i on o f US pop c ' . uL tu re a re i n no t i on and i n- . r s i . sh we d i scuss a ro la ted phenonnenon - "Unend ino

excerpted from anis par t of a nuch

w i th in t he

:e r i can (and MuTt i -Nat iona l ) Enter ta innent Connun i ty .l - ^ L ^ ^ ^ , , + ^ , ^ ^ ,' ! e t ) appy cv r t ed r f r on so nany peop fe a f t e r ou r f i r s t l s sue and i n responses we ' ve

' . a r t ed a Te t te rs co funn ( "7e t te rz " ) . Fo r t hose who wro te reques t i ng adv i ce r s€€ ou r new' : t ion, "Adf v ice" . The staf f is afso happy to repor t that Ed l , lcMahon wrote to 7et us

: - t t , , r ha f he nav announce The A&R Repor t as t he w inne r o f One l u l i TT ion DoTTars ( . . . and

, . . ' be nuch no re ! ) on NBC|s Ton igh t Show! I f i t happens - we '77 repo r t .. ase no te (o r ou r Tawyers w i f f g i ve us a ha rd t i ne ) - i n a recen t repo r t , ( "BuL in ia and

: . c rex ia Ne rvosa : D i sease o r Body A r t? " - Tag . i sh ) , we negTec ted to adv i se t ha t pe rsons- ' r . r r ' . q re r l i n nu rsu ing a d ie t shouTd consu l t t he i r doc to r f i r s t ( j us t i n case he ts go t a

, k o u t o n t h e s u b j e c t ) .: , Pannrr rhar t - got an opin ion on everyth ing says that l , lary Hart is best in the chai r: Dix ie WhatTey is the best on the roa 'd and wetre aLf gTad Ron Hendrent s back f rom /T

" r i f f e r : R e d u c i n g V o L a t i l i t y w i t h i n t h e R e c o r d B u s i n e s s " T h i s a r t i c T e i stpubTished paper l 1 td; r r / -eordy and The JACKie-wiTSON Connect ion" , whichl rge r wo rk de ta iT ing the ac t i v i s t shap ing o f r ac ia l and reT ig ious theo ry

letterz...rlrr. dar't Knc^rr who lurl'ltnK qDu ore,

bul'uE orc sicL+*ird .ot rlou alur^1: pr+fr€dourn {1a. c\ttestr lesf qroutr'ry1 J'}.e whole.-w or tl. Yc5 wa are {atfi}; qbut [ura-. 0ura^zr..lue lo.te 00+ hale AO i{rcr€vt, nofebookg+ waltett + ule- rrroo\d{r.{ qnv{4.ine {o q"fbcY;hqpl.l. 5o ne vnari. >{,pid.op:}io'rsunler {6eir prcturei, OK?

2 NoA bi'ltgrFon 'T{ouge'

]n C*rnnohy I un. pvoF€a*c' hard {ov ttu

Il<aq ftclal,+hbps to har lls-recprl; ot

+tc Lea Ang"\er ttA grwp colled Ru+lrtegs.

You car, p\eosc he\p "s7 tnont-qou uerXmu4'\Ne- are 4-q^,

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Suqtrids. w.,'{c, h: Tb+ilegg ol Ett Dianond

s+n tr #A, Ana hitrrt, G libnia Qzbl , u3A.

rentalguide o..

'tdolmqket - 5 X-5tr

Whonqrlirw.hg ays wlltryc o..tlt y end +Ai S tn od te,+ h,a.ve, tk",n W -n !146( ci*mg *-ene9.(oryou whioh {<qlvrc (ei*h.I( tqw have a Bela naY,*heS< Sceh€t qrc:,>os- (idh qites Ron a Snny loob.t+gt - Kei]* Vrops to Knus of edge o€ sloge.tt)b' Keith s Ka nE5.ts?o - KeitA sinqs ,rf*fia jD furl;{ottv *1a*

llw A*R. (eport' uitglt e9 he woold Singlmoee o\hn.

ad,/viie.o.U Be#ec g€t%( Qts tn geot

revueso..4nd J DaalwantTo LiYrtrs Uf<.b1 Nanc{ SPungeon t norle':

A.Ri?cp",'t red il.rs one. 1l4rr\Ne f€d'lAis one:

Ordenl . ,\ Linda Lowloce.

Pa.*87: , ." 'ha woold boY RJ

f+"+l *hosc +ihi qhonmo'r1cq,ndi6+hq+ Kig lorc,* he\cou\A s{ic-Ea honJ{rl oF*hern in. vrnrl \43flr4.+waLhh\e Sflutrm, Og Ute drOUeo l o r r g - a \ e C [ |

2

IJnending ThriTTer (cont inued from page 1)

ThriTTer wi77 have the same iovers onTy different backgrounci coTors aid speclal-date-coding. By doing this' CBS wi7l assure that ThriTTer never Teaves the charts.2) As part of his announcenentt a77 trade-in buyers wi77 also havethe option to pay a fee.This guarantees that they wi77 receive future versions of ThriTTer at a discount. Thesubscri'ption aiso requires forwarding of biographical/denographic infornation.3) With a guaranteed Tong-tern subscription base for Thri7Ler, CBS can now present itseTfas the Teast voTat iTe corporat ion within the industry. I ts appeaT toinvestors/conglonerates wi77 be cTear - particularly since its Tong tern incone can now becarefuTTy charted through narket ing anaTysis of ThriTTer buyers.4) In 7986' Conpct Disc is now decTared out of date as new two-way d.isc technoTogy nakespossibTe both recording and pTaying of digital disc nusic at hone. In nid-1986 CBS/AT&Tannounce the capabi l i ty of phone-7ine-transnit ted-nusic. By diaTing certain phone nunbers,a musicaT/and/or/video recording wi77 be directTy transferred to your hone CD pTayer. Thecost wi77 be bi l led to your hone phone.5) Subscribers to Thriller are offered the option to transfer their subscription to thehone-phone service and nost do so naking the aTbun the first to top the new BiTTboardPhone/CD chart. By this point only Bi71ie Jean and Beat It remain fron the originaTreTease.6) By renoving the retaiTing outTet as we77 as the packaging and shipping costsr nusicindustry prof i ts soar. This, coupTed with the guaranteed subscript ion reyenues eventuaTTyturns the product-or iented record biz into a service-or iented biz. AT&T starts Tooking fornega-stars and CBS starts seTl ing conputer-nodens. Another Tink in what we (at tne A&RReport) ca77 THE NEH PRMCY is set into not ion - Next ish - nThe WaTknan - Drun MachineConspiracy: No Innger Marching to a Different Drunner? "

jrn $nisheJ ao+ " The DrionyC*/ 0*at,+r).

A

PentOt'Mqn1edf Ann frq nk-"T* se-ems

5lrl

th'df in -fhe filral sce ne, whe45oldievs rurh info the-Fna ̂k't clpFfn "r,J theo/^dterce rl e / le.d' I l "

u PSta t15 :^1heb

A vn"nnber o+ ot,r l]'rf.€\r i+h P;o' %/lDcq. ct* t\ere,c€^t N.w Au:ic_Sevn,hqr in Ny<'. PoorBq &ta the A* RR.p"S +,t^df she- had

BrrJr - Fi Lllt,rmenr / *arysiJ,,ffi

Itr y"V can.enflry tistening Fq. JLcr dip the rdb to your-li,rlr- on the hamburger neidptrcdrE hme in l,our favqite AM iilatil.

' lhere 's no n is tak ing where the beef is when you"s7 ip on the hanbu rge r headphones . " f ou ' re I t !And what a powerfuf s tatenent that nakes. Pop

Mus ic c r i t i c i sn reduced to f i v i ng synbo f i sn .

[ ] n f o r t t n a t e f v , t h e u n i t i s n ' t w o r t h n u c h n o r e

t h a n i t s s o c i a T - h i s t o r i c v a l u e , F o r $ 1 2 . 9 5Radio Shack narkets an An radio which sends

a nono s l t nbo l t h rough a headse t . BK ' s rhe to r i c7ogo , "A ren ' t You Hungr -v? t t (w i se l y on i t t ed f r onthe Bu rgc r K ing Jeans ) cove rs one s ide o f t he

c l i p -on rad io nak ing the owner bo th a synboJ i c

a n d T i t e r a T s a n d w i c h n a n .

G()OD Nt ' : l ls - At f east the nerchandis ing bra iD-S <: i

BK have sone th ing on the i r n i nd bes ides thet t [ ] ane / f r i ed " con t ro \ / e r sy

BAD NE!/S - No rebates or couDons.

NEX ' I tSH - We rev iew Aud io Techn i ca ' s JPB i n f l a t ' :

KEEFSAKE PHOTO PI.ATES AT DISCOUNT PRICESThese folks wil l reproduce your favorite photo-without

damagnng the orignnal-on a decorative china piate. The plates measurel0 in. in drameter and are trimmed in gold, and thrs month DIRECTreaders can order them at a special drscount. The Will iam Agency'sBr11 Kapner says the plates resist fading and can be cleaned with a dampsponge. Any size photo, drawing, or watercolor can be reproduced,and for an addi t ional charge ($4.95) the p lates can be personahzedwith names, dates, or special messaqes: MICHELLE AND i-EE, MAy 26, l98ifor example, or GRADUATION DAy rgga. The photo plates can beordered rn b lack-and-whrte ($19.95) or brown tones($24.95), as well as hand-tintedcolor ($29.95) . MentronDIRECT and subtract 20olofrom the cost. Add $3.75 tocover shipping for each plateordered. Free brochure.

THE WILLIAM AGENCY45 Acorn CircleSuite 102Towson, MD 212043OIr82I 7346

Llustable tunanFf,

ChecK one- : And h a'l covp,,.' w/f 1,ooE f i a s h d o t l f - - r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r - - - - - r r

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D :pnrsh {r. {qc*oe i n,^-^ |

D colortl n'esh W i l',,." :^ t . - + |

i n u u r ( t

n C hrsr,lwtag cards i t ' tv - state Zip - ij aan THrs coupoN To: The A&R Report iI p .O . Box 22 j j 3 II s u n s e t s t a ' s ' F , / - ' ' / ' - - !; r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r - ' . , " : - ; - - - |