Italy's Federation Of Music Plans Own "grammies'

SAN REMO, Italy-Italy's annual music awards, Premio Della Musica Italiana (PIM), will soon face competition from an "official" event being planned by the Italian Federation of Music Industries (FIMI).
Set for launch in November this year, the Italian Grammies, as they are being provisionally labeled, are still in the planning stage. Although a representative for FIMI confirms plans are under way, no official statement is expected in the immediate future. A music industry-sanctioned awards event in Italy has been in the pipeline for several years, but plans were stalled in 1997, when five major-label affiliates in Italy were found guilty of operating an effective price-fixing cartel (Billboard, Nov. 8, 1997).
The PIM awards were established five years ago by the Espresso media group. Listeners of its three radio networks-top 40-formatted Radio Deejay, AC Radio Capital, and news/talk Italia Radio-together with readers of daily newspaper La Repubblica and its weekly music supplement, Musica!, and online visitors to Espresso's Kataweb site (kataweb.it) vote for their artists and records of the year.
The 2000 awards-which took place April 12 in Milan-attracted a record 150,000 votes, according to market research company Abacus, which coordinates the voting. Three of the eight categories at PIM are critics' awards, selected by the Musica! supplement, Radio Deejay, and a panel of Italian music critics.
"While there are no official music awards in Italy, PIM is considered the only existing valid [event]," says Warner Music Italy VP Massimo Giulliano, who is also managing director of WEA Italy. This year's event, he says, was a "triumphant evening for us, with WEA acts Ligabue and La Crus plus Eiffel 65-whom we distribute in Italy-picking up five prizes between them," Giulliano adds.
The 2000 awards, hosted by Radio Deejay PD and presenter Linus, were broadcast live on Radio Deejay and aired via a delayed telecast on commercial TV network Italia 1.