As he interviewed dozens of sources in the pop-recording field, New York Correspondent James Willwerth was frequently asked about his journalistic background. "I had to admit," he says, "that I've spent most of my time covering organized crime, rebellions, riots and the war." His book about Viet Nam, Eye in the Last Storm, was recently published by Grossman. The usual reply, recalls Willwerth, was, "You've come to the right place. You'll feel at home."

Though the pop music wars are less dangerous than Willwerth's earlier assignments, they are a fierce struggle for the record companies. This week in our cover story we examine the $3 billion-a-year recording industry and the battle tactics being used.

For six weeks, Willwerth visited record industry headquarters, meeting pop music's promoters and star performers. Record companies, he found, can be ruggedly zany. "All the ingredients of a carnival are there: clowns, hucksters, mystics and assorted crazies--all sniping at each other with popguns in an atmosphere of distorted mirrors and colored lights. I loved them all."

In the old Charlie Chaplin studios in Hollywood, Willwerth found Lou Adler, whose Ode Records is one of the most successful small recording companies. Midway through the interview, Adler excused himself, then dashed downstairs to join a basketball game between two bands, Chicago v. Cheech and Chong. Traveling on to San Francisco, Willwerth talked to Rock Impresario Bill Graham about his difficulties in starting a new record company, then accompanied a local record promoter on a tour of Bay Area radio stations. In Nashville the following week, the correspondent sat in on a recording session by Folk Artist Eric Andersen.

Back in New York, Willwerth turned his files over to Contributing Editor Mark Goodman, who wrote the story, and to Reporter-Researcher Rosemarie Tauris Zadikov, who did some interviewing herself. Zadikov, a seven-year veteran of TIME's Music section, was reared on classical music, but finds her tastes broadening. "People are becoming more sophisticated and are looking for quality," she says. "If they find it in popular music, then that is where they will go, even if they are over 30."

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