Business Notes ENTERTAINMENT

A bold black-and-white label will begin appearing by July on many musical recordings sold in the U.S. Its message: PARENTAL ADVISORY -- EXPLICIT LYRICS. Last week the recording industry unveiled the uniform marking in an attempt to fend off bills in five state legislatures that would require labels on recordings that contain explicit lyrics dealing with sex, violence, suicide, drug use, bigotry and satanism. Under the industry's program, the decision to put the standardized label on a new release would be made by the record company and the artists rather than by government officials.

The Parents' Music Resource Center, which has crusaded against explicit lyrics, applauded the move. Local politicians were less pleased. "This plan doesn't even touch most of the music we're talking about," says Missouri legislator Jean Dixon. She points out that the trade group promoting the voluntary label, the Recording Industry Association of America, does not represent many of the companies that produce the most offensive albums.