Reproduced from Billboard 11 June 1994

Stock is back in business with a label deal with Arista in the UK, under which he will provide 17 productions every year for his Ding-Dong label, which will be handled through the bell imprint, revived last year at Arista UK.

The deal also gives him the flexibility to produce other artists for his own label, love this records, which is not affiliated with Arista.

Stock says he once again wants to get involved with dance-edged pop. The Stock, Aitken, Waterman team had 70 top 40 hits with the genre in the UK and substantial international commercial success with Kylie Minogue, Jason Donovan, Mel & Kim, and Rick Astley.

"I think the British pop industry is second rate now," says Stock. "The music doesn't cross over any more. I don't expect us to govern the world from a tiny island, and there are areas which we should not be developing. Those areas are the ones where the Americans are strong, for example, in swing beat. But the Belgians, Italians, and the Dutch are beating us at pop, within the restrictions of their language."

Stock believes the move in recent years from dance-based pop to eclectic DJ culture in the UK is one reason for the music's lack of exportability.

"We're so involved with the cult of the remixer these days. It's almost an element of suicide, as if we've opened up a vein in our wrist and watched it bleed."

The producer has recently been working with Kym Mazelle and Jocelyn Brown on a remake of the 70s classic, "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)" released on Arista in the UK. Stock also is putting the finishing touches on his south London studio, where he will produce acts that do not necessarily have to go through the Arista label deal.

"If I find a new band, I have the license to develop myself and take it some- where else," says Stock.

Stock parted company with PWL's Pete Waterman last fall after 10 years together Stock and former partner Matt Aitken have since struck a deal with BMG music publishing in the UK for their compositions.

Aitken went his own way in 1991, the same year Waterman signed the PWL label to an international license deal with Warner Music International, which also bought a stake in PWL.

"I've always felt that being an independent was the best way to be," says Stock, "Warners ended up being a bank for the company and that's where it all went wrong. Apart from Sybil, none of (PWL's) records has been a hit abroad. I wish the majors would look at things differently instead of just buying things."

Stock says he chose Arista over other interested labels because "they gave me the deal I was looking for. I know Simon Cowell (Arista A&R), and he was first on the phone."