IB, Stringer, Top Five tease

THE THOROUGHBREDS: I.B. Bad breaks down the label leaders as they hit the home stretch of the frontline and overall/TEA marketshare races in our lead story. The column doubles as a preview for our series of exclusive, in-depth interviews with the hotshots who have guided their companies to banner years. It kicks off Monday morning with Columbia topper Rob Stringer, who lays all of his cards on the table during the conversation. When asked, for example, about his reputedly passionate approach to discovering and closing artists, Stringer says in part, “I can hustle with the best of them. I can roll my sleeves up and argue against any other label to try and get an artist.” This is a must-read, as are the succeeding interviews with CMG’s Steve Barnett (Tuesday), RCA’s Peter Edge and Tom Corson (Wednesday), Interscope’s John Janick (Thursday) and Republic’s Monte and Avery Lipman (Friday). (12/6a)