Record Industry Unveils Warning Label : Advisory: Logo warns consumers, parents of potentially offensive lyrics.

A standardized warning sticker identifying albums that contain potentially offensive lyrics is expected to begin appearing on compact discs, cassettes and vinyl records by early July.

The small, black and white sticker, which was developed over the last six weeks in meetings with representatives of the nation’s leading record companies, was unveiled at a press conference Wednesday in Washington.

The recording industry hopes that the sticker, which reads “Parental Advisory--Explicit Lyrics,” will help consumers and parents identify potentially offensive recordings prior to sale. The industry also hopes that the sticker will help to head off a variety of legal challenges that the record business has been facing in more than a dozen states.

“We believe the uniform logo will enhance the existing voluntary system and better respond to the legitimate concerns of parents,” said Jay Berman, president of the Recording Industry Assn., which represents the nation’s major record labels.

Speaking at the press conference, he added, “Now that we have agreed on this new logo, it will be up to parents to use it as they see fit.”

John Mitchell, attorney for the National Assn. of Recording Merchandisers, said the nation’s record retailers also support the new sticker.

“It is a very user-friendly parental advisory,” he said in a phone interview from his Washington office. “I think retailers will respond favorably.”

The logo was developed in response to parents’ complaints over allegedly offensive lyrics and numerous state legislative proposals to mandate warning stickers. The new sticker will be permanently attached underneath the cellophane shrink rap in the the lower right hand corner of compact discs, cassettes or albums.

State proposals are still pending in Delaware, Missouri, New York, Pennsylvania and Louisiana, but in light of the organized industry agreement to voluntarily standardize stickering of explicit records, lawmakers in 14 states have withdrawn their warning sticker bills.

Refering to the new logo, Florida Rep. Joseph Arnall, who withdrew his bill on May 2, said by phone: “I am pleased that we have been able to work together to come to an agreement. I think we have a much stronger agreement than the one reached in 1985.”

However, Louisiana Rep. Ted Haik, who introduced a trio of “offensive” record labeling bills in April, told The Times on Wednesday that he has his doubts about whether the record industry intends to live up to the new agreement.

“This is one legislator who is not going to withdraw his bill until I see some positive action,” Haik said. “My proposal stays put until the record industry proves to me that it is serious about regulating such material.”

The Washington-based Parents Music Resource Center, which engineered the original agreement to voluntarily sticker explicit albums in 1985, also supports the new standardized logo.

“It is a very favorable outcome,” center executive director Jennifer Norwood said Tuesday in anticipation of Wednesday’s press conference. “This standardized label is a fabulous development.”

No independent monitoring agency has been created to establish guidelines as to what is or what is not considered “explicit.” Each record company, in consultation with its artists will determine which recordings will display the logo.

Although most record companies have committed to enforce the implementation of the industry-wide stickering program, few believe it will increase the amount of records being stickered.

Bob Merlis, vice president of publicity at Warner Brothers Records, said his company will use the new stickers instead of the stickers previously employed by Warner Bros., but doesn’t expect any change in the policy that determines which records get stickered.

“In the past, the text of certain warning stickers has been criticized as an enticement for consumers to buy suggestive material,” Merlis said. “But this new RIAA logo can not possibly be viewed as a marketing ploy. For those who feel it is necessary, the new logo will truly provide a parental advisory.”

Still, some record companies maintain that placing warning labels on records is a violation of artistic freedoms guaranteed under the Constitution. According to company spokespersons at I.R.S. and Virgin Records, neither company has ever stickered any album, nor intends to start.

Jeff Ayeroff, managing director of Virgin Records, was unavailable for comment Wednesday, but he is quoted in the current issue of Rolling Stone as saying, “I find it repugnant that the record industry in general is knuckling under to right wing extremists.”

Some industry observers fear that voluntarily imposed warning labels may cause many of the same problems as government-mandated stickers. Standardized warning labels, they say, could stigmatize controversial recordings, making such albums an easy target for boycotts.

“While I believe the RIAA logo makes the best of a bad situation, I’m fearful that the logo could be used like a tattoo on the forearm of the artistic community,” Michael Greene, president of National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, said. “It certainly does create a visible target, in the sense that labeled product could easily be singled out and removed by nervous retailers.”

NARM attorney Mitchell agreed: “The logo will not alleviate the problem with specific instances in various states regarding violation of local obscenity statutes. When prosecutors or judges deem a record obscene, the cheapest solution for a retailer is to stop selling the record. But I don’t perceive this type of activity as a trend.”

Explicit albums have been banned in a number of communities around the country. “As Nasty as They Wanna Be,” a sexually explicit album by the Miami-based rap group 2 Live Crew, has been deemed obscene in four judicial districts in Florida and also in some counties in Ohio, Indiana, Tennessee, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.

Fearing prosecution under local obscenity ordinances, many record store owners have removed questionable “offensive” product from their shelves and discontinued selling records with warning labels to anyone under 18. The 450-store Albany, N.Y.-based Trans World Corp., and the 119-store Owensbury, Ky.-based Wax Works/Disc Jockey chain have enacted such policies.

The 752-store Musicland group, the nation’s largest record store operator that includes Musicland and Sam Goody outlets in Southern California, recently instituted a similar rule. And according to Mitch Perlis, director of purchasing at Show Industries, the 73-store Los Angeles-based Music Plus chain will soon follow suit.

“I think the RIAA logo is a very positive move,” Perlis said. “It’s what we, as retailers, have been asking for. The standardized sticker will make our job infinitely easier because it will give our salespeople an opportunity to know what they’re selling. Still, Music Plus is in the process of developing an 18-and-over policy for purchases of stickered product.”

Priority Records, a company that has been voluntarily stickering since 1985, is well aware of the political controversy surrounding provocative pop music. Last year, the Los Angeles-based record label received a “policy” letter from the Federal Bureau of Investigation charging that a song by N.W.A, a rap group on Priority’s roster, encouraged violence against law enforcement officers.

“Hopefully this sticker will short circuit some of the state legislative proposals calling for government-mandated labels. But I don’t think the battle is over. It’s going to get worse,” Priority Records president Bryan Turner said Wednesday. “If nothing else, the new logo will give the creative community a chance to regroup and figure out how we’re going to combat the next wave of fundamentalists who want to change our Constitution.”