
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, July 11, 1995                   TAG: 9507110073
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B-5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEW YORK                                LENGTH: Short

MCA SIGNS EX-WARNER HEAD

Less than three weeks after being fired as head of Warner Music Group's U.S. operations, industry veteran Doug Morris has agreed to form a new recording company as a joint venture with Warner rival MCA Inc.

Under a deal announced Monday, Morris and MCA will each own 50 percent of the new recording venture that will go under the name Rising Tide Entertainment.

Morris, who had been chairman and chief executive of Warner Music U.S. since December, will serve as chairman and chief executive of the new venture under a multi-year contract.

Warner Music is the biggest recording company in the U.S. market, while MCA ranked fifth in the first six months of this year, according to estimates from SoundScan Inc., a market research concern.

Financial details of the new venture with Morris were not disclosed.

But Al Teller, chairman and chief executive of MCA Music Entertainment Group, said it would be ``one of the most well-capitalized label startup ventures in the history of the music business.''

The deal was approved by Edgar Bronfman Jr., the president and chief executive of The Seagram Co. Ltd., which recently acquired a controlling 80 percent stake in MCA, the entertainment and publishing concern.

by CNB