HOLLYWOOD--(ENTERTAINMENT WIRE)--Oct. 7, 1997

Capitol Records will release Duran Duran's Medazzaland full-length cassette at a reduced price of $7.98 on Oct. 14, when the new record hits retail stores next week. This marks the first time a new release by a major artist has carried a $7.98 list price.

"Over the last year or so, our customers have said not to walk away from the cassette configuration," said Capitol Records Senior Vice President, Sales, Joe McFadden. He continued, "Using a publishing analogy, if the cassette is the softback version of the CD, we decided that it should be priced as such."

Capitol has asked retail accounts to merchandise the cassette with the CD and have in-store signage that indicates that the $7.98 price is for Duran Duran's brand-new full-length cassette, not a stripped-down version. "Our strategy is to get more consumers to buy the cassette, and also to upsell the cassette-single buyer," said McFadden. "The in-store signage is designed to let consumers know what our goals are."

"This is one of a number of ways we're looking to support the cassette format, and we're anticipating positive results," commented Richard Cottrell, EMD president and chief executive officer.

Retail response has been extremely enthusiastic. Tower Records Senior Vice President, Retail Operations, Stan Gorman, said: "We're real excited. We feel the only way to save the cassette is to reduce the price. We're glad someone has finally had the balls to do this." Jerry Kamiler, divisional merchandise manager for music with Transworld, stated: "Transworld supports the reduction of cost and retail prices on cassettes. If cassettes are out there at a reduced price, we should see strong impact at the sales level."

"Electric Barbarella," the first single from the forthcoming album, was the No. 1 most-added track at Top 40 radio the first week of release, and continues to generate strong airplay with a total of more than 100 stations, including KIIS in Los Angeles, WXKS in Boston, KHKS in Dallas, WSTR in Atlanta, WPLL in Miami and WBZZ in Pittsburgh already playing the record.

"Our customers have challenged us to formulate a strategy to keep the cassette alive," said Gene Rumsey, EMD senior vice president, major account group. "We are aware of the fact that there is a consumer out there who will buy cassettes as well as a singles buyer looking for a reason to buy the full length. We believe this pricing strategy will accomplish our goals. We are counting on our customers' support to ensure consumer awareness of this opportunity."