The first ever YouTube Music Awards took place on Sunday night, November. The show was broadcasted through a live stream on YouTube.com. Unlike your typical music award shows, such as the MTV VMA’s, the Grammy’s or the Billboard music awards, the YMA’s feature nominees that ranged from mainstream artists, to artists whose success came to be because of YouTube. This award show is such a reflection of our generation, and represents how much of an influence the Internet has had not only on us, but also on the music industry as a whole.
Viewers had the opportunity to cast their votes in six different categories, some of which are familiar, and some of which are new. The categories included; Video of the Year, Artist of the Year, Response of the Year, YouTube Phenomenon, YouTube Breakthrough, and Innovation of the Year. The nominations were as follows:
Video of the Year:
· Epic Rap Battles Of History – “Barack Obama vs Mitt Romney”
· Demi Lovato – “Heart Attack”
· Girls’ Generation – “I Got A Boy” (*winner)
· Justin Bieber (feat. Nicki Minaj) – “Beauty And A Beat”
· Lady Gaga – “Applause”
· Macklemore & Ryan Lewis (feat. Mary Lambert) – “Same Love”
· Miley Cyrus – “We Can’t Stop”
· One Direction – “Best Song Ever”
· PSY – “Gentleman”
- Selena Gomez – “Come & Get It”
Artist of the Year:
· Eminem (*winner)
· Epic Rap Battles
· Justin Bieber
· Katy Perry
· Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
· Nicki Minaj
· One Direction
· PSY
· Rihanna
· Taylor Swift
Response of the Year: (the top “unofficial” fan videos on YouTube based on views and shares)
· Boyce Avenue (feat. Fifth Harmony) – “Mirrors
· Jayesslee – “Gangnam Style”
· Lindsey Stirling and Pentatonix – “Radioactive” (*winner)
· ThePianoGuys – “Titanium / Pavane”
· Walk Off the Earth (feat. KRNFX) — “I Knew You Were Trouble”
YouTube Phenomenon: (Most generated fan views)
· Diamonds
· Gangnam Style
· Harlem Shake
· I Knew You Were Trouble (*winner)
· Thrift Shop
YouTube Breakthrough: (artists who experienced the biggest growth in views and subscribers)
· Kendrick Lamar
· Macklemore & Ryan Lewis (*winner)
· Naughty Boy
· Passenger
· Rudimental
Innovation of the Year: (most creative video on YouTube)
· Anamanaguchi “ENDLESS FANTASY”
· Atoms For Peace – “Ingenue”
· Bat For Lashes – “Lilies”
· DeStorm – “See Me Standing” (*winner)
· Toro Y Moi – “Say That”
If you are ever feeling bored with your current iTunes library and looking to add some new music to it, start here. Some of the most talented music artists are not signed to a label, and are not played on the radio. This award show is unique and something that our generation should be proud to say we were apart of starting. The Internet is such a large part today’s society, this award ceremony demonstrates that.