Uni Records Knows What It Wants to Be

Uni Records, the newly launched subsidiary of MCA Records, owes its existence in part to the profits MCA has made with such mainstream, mass-appeal pop favorites as Tiffany and Jody Watley.

Don’t, however, look for Uni to sign such acts as Tiffany and Watley.

The new label, which is releasing the British group Wet Wet Wet’s “Wishing I Was Lucky” as its first single, is designed to establish the kind of hip, rock ‘n’ roll-oriented image that has long eluded its parent company.

“We’ll be a little more renegade than MCA,” said David Simone, president of the New York-based label. “We’ll be closer to the street. Our music will have its roots in rock.”

Does that mean Simone would turn down a Tiffany, whose debut album has sold more than 4 million copies?

Yes, insists the 36-year-old Englishman.

“She doesn’t fit in with what we’re trying to do,” he said. “She’s too straight-ahead for us. But I think it’s great that MCA has Tiffany because it helps them fund the start-up of Uni. I would pass Tiffany on to MCA and say, ‘She isn’t right for us, but I think you should sign her.’ ”

The question of which artists fit the Uni image isn’t just academic.

Universal City-based MCA has made convincing strides in mainstream pop and R & B in the five years since former Eagles manager Irving Azoff was recruited as its chairman. As Azoff wryly pointed out in a separate interview, “I remember when MCA was jokingly referred to as the Musical Cemetery of America.”

While the bottom line of the company that was born as the Music Corp. of America has improved, its rock ‘n’ roll credibility has remained low. But Azoff hopes Uni will make some inroads in that area.

“I would hope that Uni will veer more towards rock ‘n’ roll, East Coast street music and U.K. product,” he said. “I expect them to take a few more chances than MCA, and to have a little rougher edge.”

Azoff--whose management clients also included Dan Fogelberg, Boz Scaggs and Stevie Nicks--said that a label of MCA’s size doesn’t have the luxury of being as selective.

“You can’t run a (major) record company and be responsible for what it costs to operate a distribution system these days by being a snob. I could operate a management company that way, but I can’t operate a record company that way.”

This is actually the second time around for Uni. In its first incarnation two decades ago, Uni was home to such acts as Elton John and Neil Diamond.

The reactivated label’s artist roster includes Holly Johnson, the former lead singer of Frankie Goes to Hollywood; rap act Eric B. & Rakim and the Irish band Cactus World News.

Rock ‘n’ roll credibility isn’t the only thing at stake in the reactivation of Uni.

Another factor, Azoff said, was that MCA has grown about as much as it could with just one label.

“We’ve gone from a 1 1/2% market share to what we think will be a 10%-11% market share (this year),” he said. “But I don’t think you can go from 11% to 18% as quickly with just one label as you can if you have two labels and go from 11% to 13% at MCA and from 0% to 5% at Uni.”

One reason for the cap on growth with just one label is that radio stations are sometimes reluctant to keep adding records by one label, Azoff suggested.

“If a station plays 30 records and they’re already playing five of yours, it’s a little hard to get them to add (records) six and seven,” he said. “So by starting a second label, we hope we can get a second shot at those play lists.”

Elton John was originally scheduled to be the reactivated Uni’s first artist. The move would have marked a homecoming for the singer, whose classic early hits, including “Your Song” and “Rocket Man,” appeared on Uni--which was incorporated into MCA in 1972.

The plan was changed, partly because Azoff and Simone felt that that would be the wrong image for Uni to project.

“The idea of Elton being on Uni was born more of nostalgia than really fitting in with what we’re trying to create,” Simone said. “It’s meant to be a label of new artists. Also, I really wanted Uni to stand on its own. It didn’t sit right to just come in, take one of the biggest acts off MCA and say, ‘OK, we’ve arrived.’ ”

Azoff agreed that Wet Wet Wet’s “Popped In Souled Out” album--which sold more than 1 million copies in the U.K.--was a better first release from the standpoint of Uni’s image.

In addition to his role with Uni, Simone, who previously worked with such acts as Elton John, Dire Straits and Swing Out Sister while head of Phonogram Records in England, will continue to supervise MCA’s British company.

Simone said he that he wants Uni to be a mid-sized label, both in size and attitude. In terms of image and commerciality, he sees the label falling somewhere between I.R.S., an MCA-distributed “alternative music” label, and A & M, the industry’s largest independently owned label.

“I don’t believe in having 150 acts on the label,” Simone said. “I believe in a roster of 24 to 30 acts. You don’t need an enormous artist roster to sell a lot of records. You can achieve an awful lot by having a tight artist roster and really selling those records to their full potential.”

He stressed: “I don’t see this as a small, boutique label not selling many records but getting lots of good reviews. I’d like to get the good reviews, but I’d also like to sell a lot of records.”

Azoff links the Uni reactivation--coming just six months after Warner Bros.’ reactivation of Reprise--with the record-setting revenues that the industry posted last year.

“When times are good,” he said, “everyone wants to take another swing at bat.”