Editing MCA Records (section)

=== The 1980s<span class="anchor" id="Superstar pricing"></span> ===
The combined effects of the Infinity Records failure, the purchase of ABC, rising vinyl costs and a major slump in record sales produced tremendous losses for the company between 1979 and 1982. It was not until the mid-1980s that the record labels returned to significant profitability. In late 1980, MCA received negative publicity when it attempted to raise the list price of new releases by top selling artists from $8.98 to $9.98 (${{Inflation|US|8.98|1980|r=2}} and ${{Inflation|US|9.98|1980|r=2}} in {{Inflation/year|US}} dollars respectively). This policy, known as "superstar pricing", ultimately failed. The ''[[Xanadu (soundtrack)|Xanadu]]'' soundtrack album and ''[[Gaucho (album)|Gaucho]]'', by former ABC act [[Steely Dan]], were the first releases with the higher list price. Backstreet artist Tom Petty succeeded in his campaign to force MCA to drop prices back to $8.98 for the release of his album ''[[Hard Promises]]'', in May 1981.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Yd2Hm8BlzZUC&q=%22tom+petty%22%2B+%22hard+promises%22%2B+price&pg=PA31 |title=Appetite for Self-Destruction: The Spectacular Crash of the Record Industry ... – Steve Knopper – Google Books |isbn=9781416594550 |access-date=February 28, 2013|last1=Knopper |first1=Steve |date=January 6, 2009 |publisher=Simon and Schuster }}</ref>

MCA had a distribution deal with the independent label Unicorn Records, which in turn signed an agreement with another rising independent label, [[SST Records]] to manufacture and distribute [[Black Flag (band)|Black Flag]]'s first album ''[[Damaged (Black Flag album)|Damaged]]''. Reportedly, MCA executive Al Bergman heard an advance copy of the album and refused to let MCA Distributing Inc. handle it, stating that it was "an anti-parent record". The members of Black Flag found themselves covering the MCA Distributing logo on the first 25,000 copies with a sticker reading "As a parent... I found it an anti-parent record."{{citation needed|date=February 2024}}

SST Records partner [[Joe Carducci]] later said that Bergman's comments were actually a red herring for MCA to cut ties with Unicorn, which had not produced any successful releases; the fact that MCA would, not soon afterward, directly commission a new recording of "TV Party" from Black Flag and SST Records for the  ''[[Repo Man (soundtrack)|Repo Man]]'' soundtrack seemed to bear this out.{{according to whom|date=February 2024}} Unicorn would later go out of business after going bankrupt, partially the result of a lawsuit between themselves and Black Flag.{{citation needed|date=February 2024}}