Cover/Contents

THE DEATH OF PRINT JOURNALISM, PART 9,237: The cover of our most recent magazine features some fresh-faced Liverpudlians known as The Beatles. CBS’ star-studded 2/9 Grammy tribute reaffirmed the Fab Four’s massive impact on our musical landscape. The U.S. Albums package from Steve Barnett’s Capitol, meanwhile, offers a crash course in that immortal catalog. Though we imagine appearing on the cover of our rag would make anyone call for “Help!”

Our featured Contents honcho is Sony Music chief Doug Morris, who’s “Dancing in the Street” these days. The company’s quarterly earnings report shows solid sales and income increases over the nine months ending 12/31, and the outlook for the end of the fiscal year in March looks even rosier. Recorded music is riding its third consecutive yearly marketshare spike, with Columbia on fire, RCA coming off a brilliant year and Epic turning around—and you can count on Gary O’s hot Sony Nashville operation to have its umpteenth strong year in a row. If only the moment weren’t spoiled by this HITS Contents Shout-Out. (2/18p)