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Arista Nashville artist Carolyn Dawn Johnson tops the list of nominees for the 25th annual Canadian Country Music Assn. Awards, announced July 31, with an unprecedented 10 nominations. Johnson has been nominated in the top female, top entertainer, and rising star categories; her hits "Complicated" and "Georgia" are up for top single, top song, and top video honors. Her Room With a View has been nominated as top album. Other multiple nominees include Mercury Nashville's Terri Clark, with six nominations; Universal Canada's Jason McCoy and indie Cosmo's Lisa Brokop, with five each; and Epic's Adam Gregory, with four nominations. The show, to be televised live on CBC in Canada and CMT in the U.S., takes place Sept. 10 at the Pengrowth Saddledome in Calgary, Alberta. LARRY LeBLANC



Japanese labels' body the Recording Industry Assn. of Japan (RIAJ) has issued a report on the findings of a four-year investigation into unauthorized reproduction of copyrighted material. The investigation targeted private schools commercially offering training for karaoke or minyo (traditional Japanese folk) singing, as well as health and fitness clubs. Six RIAJ investigators identified 10,000 establishments throughout the country selling illegally copied material. The RIAJ found that schools and clubs were illegally duplicating music and selling copies to students as practice materials or—in the case of health clubs—exercise music. Offenders were warned by investigators, and according to the RIAJ, all have stopped selling the unauthorized products. The RIAJ does not have an estimate of how much revenue has been lost as a result of the activity. PETER SERAFIN



London-based Sony Music Entertainment Europe (SMEE) is merging its strategic-marketing and artist-marketing divisions. "Strategic and catalog marketing continue to play critically important roles within our business," SMEE president Paul Burger says, "and we believe that there is huge value to be gained for our artists and their records by uniting all our marketing activities." Under the new regime, SMEE VP of strategic marketing Chris Haralambous now reports to senior VP of marketing Julie Borchard. Haralambous previously reported to SMEE senior VP Tony Woollcott. Reporting to Haralambous is Tim Fraser-Harding, who is promoted from manager to director of catalog marketing. LARS BRANDLE



Stephen Wright, 50, product/marketing director at HMV Australia, died July 27 in Sydney from a brain hemorrhage. Yorkshire, England-born Wright joined HMV in 1972 as a store assistant at its flagship Oxford Street store in London and rose to assistant manager. Having departed the chain for stints at the Island and Beserkley labels, he returned to HMV in 1986 to help open its second Oxford Circus outlet. He was instrumental in setting up the chain's global inventory management system, TRACK, in 1991, before moving to Australia in January 1998 as part of a new team brought in by Asia-Pacific managing director Chris Walker to change HMV's fortunes Down Under. "Steve made an enormous impact," HMV Australia commercial director Martin Carr says. "His integrity, knowledge, and passion for music was reflected in the quality of the new releases and artists that we championed." Wright is survived by a wife, Kristen, and a 7-month-old son, William. CHRISTIE ELIEZER



The Chart Information Network (CIN), which owns and operates the official U.K. sales charts, has issued a reminder to labels about chart-eligibility rules, citing the use of free gifts with singles. Singles sold with such gifts are ineligible for the CIN charts, it says, and it defined the term "gift" as any item with a market value of its own, "however small." Thus, the inclusion of a sticker within the packaging of a single (or album) will render the format ineligible for the charts. There are some exceptions, such as the inclusion of certain small posters, cards, database cards (to collect purchaser details for mailing lists), and merchandise flyers. "In all exempted cases," the CIN says, "the gift must be promoting the artist concerned."



Ken Cooper, London-based vice chairman of Warner Music International (WMI), retired July 31. Cooper joined WMI as financial director for WEA Australia in 1976 after spending six years at PolyGram in Australia. Moving to Los Angeles in early 1979, he moved up the ranks to senior VP/CFO and in 1986 transferred to London as executive VP/CFO for WMI. In March 2000, he was named as WMI's first-ever vice chairman, for a specific role during last year's merger negotiations between Warner Music Group and EMI Music. GORDON MASSON



The Music Managers' Forum will hold its seventh annual British Music Roll of Honour Sept. 19 at the London Hilton. The group will present its accolade for manager of the year and the Peter Grant Award for outstanding achievement, among other trophies. Last year's ceremonies included a one-night Genesis reunion to honor manager Tony Smith (Billboard, Sept. 22, 2000).