AZOFF UPDATE:

The music industry has been rife with rumors that Irving Azoff, chairman of the MCA Music Entertainment Group, may be leaving MCA Inc., to form his own record company. The most frequently cited sources of funding for such a venture: PolyGram and Warner Bros. Records and various forms of independent financing.

But Azoff told Pop Eye last week that he hasn’t been talking to anyone but MCA, where he has 19 months remaining on his contract. He declined to say whether he wants his own record company.

The rumor mill went into overdrive on Aug. 8, when Azoff was not named to MCA’s board of directors while two other MCA officials--Tom Pollock, chairman of the motion picture group Universal Pictures), and Charles S. Paul, president of MCA Enterprises--were appointed.

Azoff, who assumed the top job at MCA Records in 1983, is credited with turning the company from a perennial also-ran into a formidable force.

MCA has enjoyed a string of best-selling albums since 1985, including the “Beverly Hills Cop” and “Miami Vice” sound tracks and studio albums by Bobby Brown, Boston and Tiffany.

But Azoff reportedly desires to once again own his own company. From 1974 to 1983 he owned and operated the highly successful Front Line Management, where he represented such blue-chip clients as the Eagles, Dan Fogelberg, Stevie Nicks and Steely Dan.

And Azoff is said to prefer the challenge of building a company to the task of maintaining one. Said a source at MCA: “It’s been a lot of fun building a record label from nothing. But once it’s put together, it becomes a nine-to-five job.”

After denying that he’s talking to outsiders, Azoff declined further comment. But he added: “I’ve never worked a nine-to-five.”