MCA: Is It Now ‘Music Comeback of America’?

Remember when the wise guys in the record business used to refer to MCA as “The Music Cemetery of America?”

Those days may finally be over. With four albums in the top 10 this week and a string of potential blockbusters due out before Christmas, the Universal City-based corporation is on a roll and poised to post a record fourth quarter.

There is even speculation in the industry that MCA might end the year as a top distributor in the current album market share race.

There are reasons for skepticism, however. MCA doesn’t stand a chance to oust the dominant Warner Music Group in catalog sales, and competitors doubt whether the firm’s new releases can make up for a mostly sluggish year for MCA, which until recently ranked last of the six major distributors in domestic market share.

The firm has done an about-face in recent weeks, quickly establishing itself as a rock and rap music powerhouse under the watch of new MCA Music Chairman Doug Morris. Morris, a former Warner executive, was installed last year as part of a massive restructuring plan by Seagram chief Edgar Bronfman Jr., who also spent generously to lure five other top Warner music veterans and Warner-affiliated Interscope Records into the MCA fold.