I.B. BAD HANDICAPS DUELING DIVAS

As expected, considering the 460k units sold at 99 cents on Amazon MP3, Lady Gaga’s Born This Way experienced a massive drop-off in week two. Indeed, the 84% decline, from 1.108m to 174k, was the steepest of the SoundScan era—worse than 50 Cent’s Curtis in 2007 (-79%), Jay-Z’s Kingdom Come in 2006 (-79%) or Kanye West’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy last year (-78%). Can the Gaga album—which is trending toward 65-70k on next week’s chart—settle into a pattern of 40k a week, as Katy Perry’s Teenage Dream managed to do after a slow start (it’s now north of 1.5m)? If not, Gaga may be called upon to get her third album project underway sooner than expected. But Interscope and manager Troy Carter have to be encouraged that third single “The Edge of Glory” has sold nearly 700k tracks… Meanwhile, without flash or gimmickry, Adele has dramatically demonstrated the commercial potency of song-serving authenticity, as she jumps over Gaga back to #1 this week… In an intriguing subplot, weird vibes have existed between Team Gaga and the Madonna camp ever since the Grammys, when Gaga singled out Whitney Houston as an influence, without mentioning Madonna. The fact that “Born This Way” and follow-up single “Judas” sounded to many like Madonna homages is said to have further ratcheted up the noise... Historians note that the current situation parallels that of Madonna herself when, during her mid-’80s breakthrough, she was widely viewed as a Cyndi Lauper knockoff… In their search for the next generation of industry heavyweights, label executives have their eyes on dynamic young managers Troy Carter and Brandon Creed (Bruno Mars), who are getting huge props for having transformed their previously unknown clients into stars. The challenge each faces is figuring out how to pull off the follow-up. Another up-and-comer, Scooter Braun, may face an even bigger challenge attempting to extend the run of his client, Justin Bieber… With Citi’s EMI derby expected to begin in earnest this month, industry observers find it ironic that Roger Faxon’s best chance to survive is to duplicate the coup of Edgar Bronfman, who found a white knight in financial player Len Blavatnik. Faxon’s worst-case scenario would be to have Bronfman succeed in his expected attempt to buy EMI with his white knight’s money… That N.Y. Post story last week claiming that Irving Azoff wants to take Live Nation private, wasn’t wrong, say insiders, just premature… Don Ienner is back on the Pop charts via clients Hot Chelle Rae, whose latest Jive single is about to enter the Top 10. The EP hits June 21… Names in the rumor mill: Vincent Herbert, Guy O., Cliff Burnstein, Dana Dufine, Richard Palmese and Steve Popovich R.I.P.