No Slack for Managers as Jackson Cuts Rope

In music, as in sports, changing managers is usually a sign that things haven’t been going well. And making that change early in the season--or shortly after an album’s release--can be a sign of panic.

So music business watchers were caught off guard when Janet Jackson fired her new management team and returned to her former manager, just a few weeks after her new album, “The Velvet Rope,” debuted at No. 1 with first-week sales of more than 200,000.

That’s considerably lower than the 350,000 first-week sales for her last album, 1993’s “janet.” It’s also off the pace set by Mariah Carey’s “Butterfly,” perhaps the major competitor for the pop-R&B; market, with Jackson’s sales totaling nearly 500,000 after four weeks, where Carey passed the 600,000 mark in her first four weeks. A lot of the difference, many believe, is that Jackson’s first single, “Got ‘Til It’s Gone,” got a fairly lukewarm reception from radio programmers and fans.

But first-week sales for even big stars are down across the board in recent months compared to a few years ago. And with a new Jackson single, “Together Again,” off to a fast radio start, it hardly seemed time for a drastic move.

So why did Jackson dump the Southpaw Management partnership of John Dukakis and Qadree El-Amin, which also handles Boyz II Men, in favor of Roger Davies, whose roster includes Tina Turner and Joe Cocker? Davies was unavailable, and representatives of Southpaw declined to comment, but several people close to the matter focused on several things:

* London-based Davies has a long relationship with Ray Cooper and Ashley Newton, who are moving from Virgin Records’ U.K. operation to become co-presidents of Virgin Records America, Jackson’s label. Southpaw does not.

* Vibe was the only national magazine to do a cover story accompanying the album’s launch. Vibe had negotiated a guarantee of exclusivity, but that period has expired and Jackson has yet to appear on any other major magazine cover. Rolling Stone, People and Entertainment Weekly have all reportedly offered. Discussions were initiated with other national magazines, but Jackson has not committed to any.

* Jackson is said to have been concerned about Southpaw’s time being divided between her and Boyz II Men, which released its new album, “Evolution,” just two weeks before Jackson’s.