YouTube Looks For User Votes In Music Awards

Fans of music stars and bands are being courted by YouTube to cast their ballots online for the online video service’s inaugural YouTube Music Awards, while be live-streamed online on 3 November.

The nominations in six categories opened on 21 October at youtube.com/musicawards, where fans can watch the featured music videos and “share” them with others on Google+, Facebook and Twitter to “vote” for their favourites, according to a post on the YouTube Official Blog. “These video and artist nominations are based on YOUR views, likes, comments and subscriptions over the last 12 months from September 2012, and your votes from today will determine the winners.”

Live performances

The voting will conclude just before the awards presentation is streamed live online, featuring performances from superstars such as Lady Gaga, Eminem and Arcade Fire. Also performing will be Avicii, M.I.A., Earl Sweatshirt, Tyler the Creator, and Walk Off the Earth, according to YouTube. The event will be held at Pier 36 in New York City, along with simulcast performances from other locations around the world.

Fans will choose their favorite artists in six categories, including Video of the Year, Artist of the Year, Response of the Year, YouTube Phenomenon, YouTube Breakthrough and Innovation of the Year, according to organisers.

Nominees in the Video of the Year category include Demi Lovato for “Heart Attack”; Girls’ Generation for “I Got A Boy”; Justin Bieber, featuring Nicki Minaj, for “Beauty And A Beat”; and Selena Gomez for “Come & Get It”.

Artist of the Year nominees include Eminem, Epic Rap Battles of History, Justin Bieber, Katy Perry, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Nicki Minaj, One Direction, PSY, Rihanna and Taylor Swift.

“In the run-up to the YouTube Music Awards, five music events will be streamed from around the world on YouTube, culminating in the live awards celebration at Pier 36,” the post continued. “The shows from Seoul, Tokyo, Moscow, London and Rio will kick off at 5 a.m. ET on 3 November, and fans can tune in at youtube.com/musicawards.”

Cultural engagement

The inaugural awards show was unveiled by Google in early October to honour the artists and songs that dedicated YouTube viewers and fans have turned into hits over the past year. Since being named, the nominees have been sharing official music videos, covers, parodies, concerts, interviews and fan videos on YouTube.

YouTube often gets involved in cultural events to bring together fans of music, fashion, culture and more.

In September, YouTube streamed live online coverage of the 2013 Mercedes Benz Fashion Week events in New York City, bringing the latest fashions and trends to the world. Included in the YouTube coverage were more than 60 live shows from BCBG, Rachel Zoe, Betsey Johnson, Jenny Packham and more on the IMG Fashion YouTube channel, as well as stylish channel live stream shows on getting made up to the hilt with expert help from fashion and make-up experts such as Louise Goldin and Jeremy Scott.

Earlier in August, YouTube celebrated geeks with its first-ever “Geek Week” event that highlighted content, including “Game of Thrones”, “The Big Bang Theory”, Harry Potter and “The Avengers”. The Geek Week celebration highlighted the global community on YouTube that loves superheroes, comics, gaming, science and science fiction.

Growing influence

In May 2013, YouTube turned 8 years old, having launched in May 2005 as a video-sharing website where people could post their creative works and watch to see if they gained any footholds. YouTube’s popularity has been huge, with the site receiving more than 100 hours of uploaded video from creators each minute. All of that video content is being created by millions of partners and contributors, some of whom have become very popular through the growing site.

Also in May, YouTube announced a new pilot programme through which viewers are able to buy premium video content for fees starting at 99 cents per month to reward video creators for their labors while encouraging the development of better video for the huge online audience. Some of the paid content at the start of the pilot included “Sesame Street”, as well as “Ultimate Fighting Championship” (UFC), which offers classic fights such as a full version of their first event from UFC’s new channel.

In March 2013, YouTube announced that it is providing video content for more than 1 billion viewers per month. The popular video-sharing site has helped launch the careers of a slew of entertainers and made celebrities out of ordinary citizens, thanks to viral videos.

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Originally published on eWeek.