The fact that this year’s MTV Europe Music Awards are in Amsterdam has got everyone buzzing. You would almost forget that before the EMA’s (10th of November) the very first YouTube Music Awards (3rd of November) will take place as well. Musicians such as Lady GaGa and Eminem will take the stage and perform their latest hits. In this online awards show, nominations and votes are calculated from engagement across YouTube, Facebook, Google+ and Yahoo platforms.
Awards as ‘’Response of the Year’’, ‘’YouTube Phenomenon’’ and ‘’Innovation of the Year’’ will be handed out. But there is also a lot of criticism on the YouTube Awards. As ‘’Video of the Year’’ and ‘’ Artist of the Year’’ nominations are almost the same as the ones for the MTV Awards, it can be said that mainstream tastes dominate.
Though nominations this year might not reflect YouTube’s full artistic bandwidth, the social media nomination and selection process is a telling snapshot of digital entertainment.
Will you be watching this new award show?