INTO THE GROOVES:

If you’ve been keeping track, you’ve probably noticed that A&M; president Gil Friesen isn’t the only key exec who has abruptly left the troubled label in recent weeks. So far our scorecard includes Jeff Gold (who’s joined Warner Bros. as senior vice president of creative services), David Steffen, the label’s sales and distribution chief, and Jesus Garber, the chief of its black promotion department, who have departed without announcing any official plans. While the dust settles, A&M; is being run by Jerry Moss, who sold the label to PolyGram Records last year but remains a powerful force, especially with PolyGram battling its own leadership-vacuum dilemmas. With the exception of its current Janet Jackson smash (which has topped the 4-million mark in sales), hits at the label have been few and far between. Which brings us to the next big question: Will Charlie Minor, A&M;’s colorful promotion mogul, be the next to depart?

Officially, nobody at A&M; is talking. Industry insiders say Minor might stay, but probably only if he gets offered presidency stripes. If not, he could take one of several job possibilities--it’s been widely reported that Minor has been talking to Irving Azoff about joining his new record label, though Azoff has insisted there are still several candidates for the job. Meanwhile, it’s likely that A&M; won’t be looking outside the label to replace the departed execs. “They’ll have fewer chiefs,” says one industry observer. “But PolyGram will give Moss autonomy, as long as he can get the label going again.” That should be a challenge. A&M; has broken Seduction, a young female dance-music act, but its upcoming pop releases focus on adventuresome (but low-selling) critic faves like Suzanne Vega, John Hiatt and the Neville Brothers. The label’s biggest commercial hope is a fall album from Bryan Adams, who had several huge mid-’80s hits, but needs to rebound from a disappointing last album.