POP MUSIC

CASSETTES II: Retailers feel there is another way--besides DCC--to reverse the downward spiral in album cassette sales.

Their solution: l-o-w-e-r p-r-i-c-e-s .

But it looks like prices, indeed, are going up.

Citing rising prices, Atlantic, Elektra and EMI Records have just upped the suggested retail price for cassettes from the $9.98 standard of recent years to $10.98 for many of the labels’ new releases. Various labels have already been charging the $10.98 amount on new, best-selling titles.

“Nothing chases a kid out of a record store faster than an 11-buck cassette,” says Russ Solomon, president of the 84-outlet Tower Records chain. “It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure this one out. If the record companies want to sell more tapes, why don’t they just lower the price?”