Record Industry Weighs Yetnikoff Plan : Racism: CBS Records executive’s memo on racism in music raises censorship issue.

CBS Records chief executive Walter Yetnikoff’s call for dialogue within the company about the issue of racism and bigotry in music may lead other record companies to take similar steps.

A memo from Yetnikoff distributed Wednesday to more than 7,000 CBS Records employees across the country stated that the issue--which has surfaced several times in recent months-- “can no longer be ignored” and solicited input in setting company policy.

“As difficult and subjective as these decisions may be, our company is committed to making sure that none of our recordings promote bigotry,” the memo reads.

The memo came after a meeting Monday in Yetnikoff’s New York office with Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies, in which Cooper expressed concern about what he feels are anti-Semitic references in a record by Public Enemy, a controversial rap group whose albums are distributed by CBS.

Key excerpts from the five-paragraph memo, which acknowledges popular music’s traditional role as a “sounding board for the expression of social criticism and rage” and supports artists’ “rights to freedom of expression”:

“Still, a number of recordings haved recently been released which have stirred strong reactions outside and within the industry suggesting that these songs validate and promote bigotry and intolerance.

”. . . it is essential for us to encourage constructive messages that challenge people to recognize the evils of racism, bigotry, anti-Semitism and intolerance in any and all forms.”

Executives at several companies--including Capitol-EMI, Warner Bros., MCA and Geffen Records--said Wednesday after reading a news report about the memo that intend to study the matter further and some are open to meetings with Cooper.

But representatives of the record companies stressed the difficulty of determining where freedom of speech ends and social responsibility begins, especially in light of the industry’s current fight against legislation now being considered in two states to require warning stickers on all “offensive” records.

On the whole, though, the industry has praised Yetnikoff for his action and are anxious to see the complete memo, rather than the excerpt in Tuesday’s Times.

“I think it’s a good thing and applaud (Yetnikoff) for bringing the issue out in the open,” said Michael Greene, president of the National Academy of Recording Arts & Science.

Robert Altshuler, CBS Records senior vice president of corporate information, reported “incredibly good response” to news reports about the memo. “It is seen as a call to everyone involved in the creative process to recognize that it is an industry-wide problem,” he said.

But Altshuler stopped short of predicting any action in a hypothetical case of a CBS artist wishing to release a song seen to promote bigotry. A possible test case may come Feb. 21, when a new Public Enemy album is scheduled for release.

Russell Simmons, chairman of Def Jam Records and owner of Rush Artists Management, both of which handle Public Enemy, does not believe the new album will cause a conflict between CBS and the controversial group.

“I agree with what (Yetnikoff) says,” Simmons said from his New York office Wednesday. “I agree with him that if something is obviously racist, or if it’s going to influence other people to be the same way I would not want to release it.”

But Simmons did not include Public Enemy recordings in that class, though he said, “I hate Griff and what he said.”

Cooper says that the memo has fueled his effort to establish a dialogue with the record industry.

“I’m going to circulate (the memo) to other companies and see if they’ll make a similar commitment,” he said.