RECORDS

Melodiya, the Soviet Union’s only record company and the world’s largest record producer, will soon receive competition from Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab, a small, prestigious U.S. record company that embarked on a joint venture with Soviet partners to produce recordings of Soviet artists for sale in both countries. Melodiya, which issues 1,000 titles a year with a total pressing of 100 million copies, has been criticized for its poor quality of recordings and a lack of daring. Calling its new company Arts and Electronics, the joint venture has already built a state-of-the-art digital recording studio in the Moscow Conservatory of Music.