Windham Hill Records Reported to Be for Sale : Entertainment: The asking price is estimated at $50 million. Some say the marketer of New Age music may be over the hill.

Windham Hill Records, one of the leading marketers of New Age music, an increasingly popular genre of light, hypnotic instrumentals that critics derisively call “yuppie elevator music,” is up for sale for $50 million, according to top industry executives.

Capitol Records is among those reportedly negotiating with the Palo Alto company, which had estimated sales of $25 million in 1989.

Capitol officials declined comment. But Anne Robinson, president and chief executive of Windham Hill, acknowledged that her company has been talking to several interested buyers in recent weeks, although she declined to elaborate on how serious the talks were.

“Our distribution agreement with A&M; Records expires at the end of March,” Robinson said. “We have been approached by a number of parties interested in either distribution (of our records) or acquisition of our company. I can’t say any more than that.”

The possible sale of Windham Hill comes at a time when prices for record companies have soared to astronomical levels and would continue a trend of consolidation in the music business.

Since the introduction of compact discs in 1983, at least seven prominent record companies have been completely or partially acquired by large media companies vying to expand their market share. Windham Hill’s distributor, A&M;, which was acquired by Polygram last fall for an estimated $500 million, was the latest.

“Let’s face it; this is a seller’s market right now,” said Bob Reitman, general manager of Windham Hill’s chief competitor, Milwaukee-based Narada Productions. “People want to buy record companies, and they are willing to pay a lot of money.”

As media giants have gobbled up most of the remaining major independents, attention has begun to focus on smaller, specialized labels, experts say. And the interest in Windham Hill, which pioneered New Age music 14 years ago, is just the latest evidence that New Age is moving into the musical mainstream. Windham Hill was launched with an unorthodox marketing campaign that included mail-order sales and distribution through bookstores.

The mostly instrumental music, which has been described as a light and mellow mixture of classical piano, jazz fusion and even the sounds of wind, running water and chimes, has been chided by music critics as bland and uninventive.

But there’s no denying its popularity with yuppies: Windham Hill says the average age of its customers is about 30, and most are affluent urban dwellers. Such consumers spend an estimated $100 million to $150 million a year purchasing New Age music, industry officials say.

Although those figures pale beside the record industry’s $6.2 billion in sales last year, New Age music has attracted more attention in recent years.

In 1988, Billboard magazine formally recognized the category when it began to rank the top New Age records.

Today there are about half a dozen major New Age record companies, and the category has grown so popular that the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences has begun awarding a Grammy for the best New Age music. The group Shadowfax was last year’s winner for their album “Folksongs for a Nuclear Age.”

Yet the genre still suffers image and marketing problems that keep it relegated to the music industry’s backwaters.

Suzanne Doucet, president of the New Age Music Network in Los Angeles, estimates that only about 40% of New Age records are distributed through music stores. The remaining 60% are sold through bookstores and other alternative outlets because many record store owners are unsure how to effectively market the music.

“The word ‘New Age’ is a real red herring because, when some people hear it, they start thinking about stuff like Shirley MacLaine, meditation and crystals and other negative connotations,” said Roger Lifeset, an independent New Age record promoter in Agoura Hills. “But if you don’t label it and treat it simply as music, it is much easier” to sell, he said.

Yet just as New Age music seems to be catching on, its main pioneer--Windham Hill--may be losing steam.

Several of its artists, including Liz Story and Grammy winners Shadowfax, have left in recent years. And Windham Hill’s best-selling artist, pianist George Winston, hasn’t released a record in five years.

Although Larry Hayes, vice president of marketing for Windham Hill, said his company had its best sales year ever in 1989, many question Windham Hill’s dominance today.

Allan D. Chlowitz, general manager of KTWV, says Windham Hill records account for a dwindling share of his radio station’s play list. And Narada Records, with a roster of 16 artists and 11 albums on Billboard’s chart, now claims to be the top New Age record company.

“Windham Hill started out owning the field,” said Chlowitz. “But they are not the leaders today they were for many, many years.”