Three major figures in Canada’s music industry will serve as honorary chairmen during Canadian Music Week, set to take place in Toronto February 27 — March 3 next year.
Their role will be to deliver welcoming address at next years’ Executive Conference, based on their particular viewpoints as label heads, broadcasters, and music retailers. The conference is the major “industry” component of Canadian Music Week.
Said Neill Dixon, president of Canadian Music Week: “These people will be able to bring their expertise to CMW to address common problems that the industry is facing in a difficult time. A joint approach to the business circumstances that we all now share might well work to provide solutions.”

The three are:

Donald K. Tarlton (always known as Donald K. Donald) is the Montreal-based concert promoter who has presented more than 5,000 concerts in his career.
He currently heads a group of companies that includes Aquarius Records, Tacca Musique, DKD Disques, Gotahit.com Records and related publishing companies. He is also co-owner and founder of Canadian Music Network, currently the only music industry trade paper in Canada.

Gary Slaight is president and CEO of Standard Broadcasting Corporation Ltd. and Standard Radio Inc., a group of 13 major radio outlets across the country.
Slaight created the National Songwriting Contest , the
“Homegrown” contests which have long been a feature of Canadian radio programming, as well as the Canadian Radio Music Awards, which have been a highlight of Canadian Music Week in recent years.
He’s a board member of CARAS, the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences), Toronto’s Walk of Fame, and Iceberg Media.com. He began his working career as a media estimator in a large Toronto ad agency, before working in promotion of major Canadian record companies in the mid-70s. He was chosen Broadcast Executive of the Year four times during the ’90s.

Peter Luckhurst, president of HMV North America, joined the company in the UK in 1979, coming to Canada 15 years ago as part of the management team that spearheaded the launch of the company in North America.
The company now has well over 25 per cent of the market in Canada, and the American company — Luckhurst was appointed president in 1992 — has grown from two stores in Manhattan to a 12-store chain.

Neill Dixon, president of Canadian Music Week, said the appointments signaled the importance of the three pillars of the music industry — labels, radio and retail. “To have three such significant figures in our business participate in what has become one of the most important music industry events in North America is gratifying not only to those who create Canadian Music Week, but to those who participate in it as delegates,” he said.