Warnings or Lyrics Will Be Printed on Record Albums

Twenty-two recording companies--producers of 80% of the nation’s recorded music--agreed Friday to print warning labels or song lyrics on record albums so parents can identify music that glorifies sex, violence and drugs.

Stanley Gortikov, head of the Recording Industry Assn. of America, said the “mutually acceptable” agreement will take effect in 60 to 90 days.

“This is a victory for everyone,” said Pam Howar, president of the Parents’ Music Resource Center, which has pressed the $4-billion-a-year recording industry to deal with what the group regards as objectionable lyrics.

The voluntary plan “will go a long way to helping parents identify unsuitable lyrics for children,” Howar told a joint news conference held by her group, the National Parent-Teacher Assn. and the recording association.

“This constructive policy is intended to respond sensitively to the concerns of parents of younger children and to achieve a fair balance with the essential rights and freedoms of creators, performers and adult purchasers of recorded music,” a recording association policy statement said.

Gortikov said the agreement will affect only “a minute number of lyrics” and may not apply to contracts that give musicians total creativity over their product, including album covers.

The agreement provides recording companies with two options: They can print the phrase “Explicit Lyrics--Parental Advisory” on the lower quarter of the back corner of an album, or they can print the actual lyrics to the songs on the back cover.

Because of limited space on tape cassette containers, companies choosing to offer lyrics can simply refer readers to long-playing record albums of the same music by printing “See LP for Lyrics.” Tape cassettes account for 60% of all music recordings.

Firms to Define Word

According to the agreement, the definition of explicit will be left to the record companies.

“We have faith that they will make those judgments with the concern of the parents with young children in mind,” said Tipper Gore, wife of Sen. Albert Gore Jr. (D-Tenn.), and a PMRC vice president.

The group, formed in May by the wives of many politicians and one Cabinet officer, plans to monitor the agreement.

Ann Kahn, president of the 5.6-million-member PTA, called the agreement “a major step forward in giving parents more information on which they and their families can make responsible decisions.”

The National Assn. of Broadcasters, which asked record companies to supply new album lyrics to radio stations, praised the groups for reaching “a responsible voluntary agreement.” “This is a good example of private citizen groups working constructively with industry,” NAB President Edward O. Fritts said.

Others were less pleased.

Barry Lynn, legislative counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union, characterized the agreement as “a defeat for free expression and the broadest possible artistic expression in this medium.”

Sees Wary Broadcasters

Lynn said he fears that record stores will not stock labeled records and that broadcasters, whose licenses are renewed by the federal government, will be wary of playing the recordings.

Danny Goldberg of Gold Mountain Records, president of the Musical Majority--a coalition of musicians and industry executives opposed to any censorship--said his reaction to the agreement is mixed.

He said that although he is against labeling, he does not oppose providing lyrics to the public. “The artists I’ve spoken to want people to read their lyrics,” he said. “They feel comfortable with every American consumer reading lyrics and making a judgment for themselves.”

Goldberg said he will encourage record companies to follow the lead of MCA, which plans to use only the lyric option. “I think this will become the policy of any record company that wants to have the good will of the community,” he said.

Sees Less ‘Rhetoric’

Now, he added, “I look forward to the lowering of the tone of the rhetoric and the end of senators’ wives smearing American music.”

To date, 22 of the 44 members of the Recording Industry Assn. of America have signed the agreement, including: A&M;, Arista, Atlantic, CBS Records, Capitol/EMI, Chrysalis, Columbia, Compleat, Crescendo, Elektra/Asylum, Epic, Manhattan, MCA, Mike Curb Productions, Motown, PolyGram, Portrait Records, RCA, Solar, Scotti Bros., Tabu and Warner Bros.

At the press conference, it was noted that Frank Zappa’s upcoming release, “Porn Wars,” mocks the statements of several senators who had criticized what they regarded as offensive lyrics at a September hearing where Zappa appeared.

Quipped PMRC member Susan Baker, wife of Secretary of the Treasury James A. Baker III: “We think Frank Zappa ought to give us some royalties.”