COVER STORY : Attacking the Old Boys From the Outside

The glass ceiling remains in tact in the music business-- despite the addition of three female executives to Calendar’s Top 40 list.

For the most part, male executives tend to pat themselves on the back if they have one woman in their building with a vice president title. Many women are still pigeonholed in publicity departments and personnel jobs.

So, it’s not surprising that executives, when naming other fast-rising females, have to point to women who have made their mark outside the formal record company network.

Here are the leading candidates to crack the next Top 40:

* Entertainment attorney Rosemary Carroll, 38, is fast becoming a power primarily because she represents some of the industry’s most cutting-edge artists, including Courtney Love, Ministry and Cypress Hill. She also represented the late Kurt Cobain.

* Manager Susan Silver, 36, has proven to be a force because of her connection to the Seattle music scene where she has worked with Soundgarden and Alice in Chains.

* Ina Lea Meibach, 47, a respected East Coast attorney whose clients included U2 and Natalie Merchant, was recently installed as executive vice president of the Atlantic Group.

Of the women inside companies, other rising stars include Monica Lynch, the 37-year-old Tommy Boy Records president; Terri Santisi, 40-year-old executive vice president of EMI Music, and Polly Anthony, 40, general manager of Sony 550 Music.