RIAA IS BEEFING UP FOR D.C. POLITICAL WARS

Get those Rolodexes ready.

The Recording Industry Assn. of America (RIAA) is changing its address, from New York to Washington, as part of an overall plan to bolster the industry’s political clout. The move comes none too soon for many industry leaders, who have privately complained for months that the RIAA, as one label chief put it, “has walked softly and carried a toothpick” at a time when the music biz has been blasted by everyone from Washington Wives leader Tipper Gore and TV preacher Jimmy Swaggart to President Reagan.

The RIAA has announced that it will hire a “prestigious political specialist” to run the organization, with longtime RIAA President Stanley Gortikov remaining in New York as the board chairman. Industry leaders have been unhappy with the RIAA’s low-key approach to recent drug, pornography and explicit lyric charges, frequently pointing to what they have termed the “far more effectual and high-profile” leadership of Motion Picture Assn. of America President Jack Valenti.

“This move is an absolute outgrowth of years of frustration and unhappiness with the RIAA’s failure to deal properly with major industry issues,” said one label president, who asked to remain anonymous. “We need a spokesman who will stand up and speak out instead of letting matters slide.”

Gortikov defended the RIAA’s stance of quiet diplomacy, insisting that the organization has “actively” responded to industry attacks, especially last year’s Washington Wives record-rating controversy. “If there was any distress about our actions on the part of industry leaders, it wasn’t communicated to me,” he said. “We’ve commented on many issues, but the problem is that our critics don’t really listen to our response.”

Asked why the RIAA didn’t dispute President Reagan’s charges that rock music helps promote drug use, Gortikov replied: “I didn’t feel it would’ve done any good. His remarks were off-base and focused on a non-reality. I don’t know anything that would’ve changed his mind. He doesn’t consult with me before he makes his statements and I certainly don’t consult with him before I make mine.”

Gortikov will head a four-man search committee for a new RIAA president, who will be based in Washington when the relocation is completed early next year. However, industry sources said that Robert S. Strauss, a former Democratic party leader (and member of MCA Inc.’s board of directors) whose law firm serves as general counsel to the MPAA, will also assist in the hunt for a new RIAA leader.