Youtube has announced that they will host their first ever Youtube Music Awards that will air on their website on the 3rd of November. They also confirmed that the likes of Lady Gaga, Eminem and Arcade Fire are slated to perform during the awards.
Google’s 8-year-old video sharing service announced the 90-minute awards show Monday night, saying You Tube will reveal six award categories in mid-October. Data from Youtube users will drive the nominations, and users will vote for the winners.
Youtube will also be broadcasting hours of pre-recorded performances taped across the world prior to the main event. The live event is scheduled to hold at Pier 36 in New York City.
“Music is a huge part of what YouTube is and what YouTube has become to music fans around the world,” Chelsea Maughan, a youtube spokesperson. “The YouTube Music Awards represents the next step in terms of celebrating how big music is on YouTube.”
The show will comprise of stars as well as musicians who have a strong following on YouTube, such as violin dub-step artist Lindsey Stirling and the “musical experiment” group CDZA, who have 3.2 million and 215,000 Youtube subscribers, respectively.
There will also be musical mashups during the show that will pair up YouTube stars with high-profile celebrities. Filmmaker Spike Jonze was hired as the show’s creative, while VICE and Sunset Lane Entertainment will be the show’s executive producers.
“We’re setting out to create a night that’s all about making things and creativity in the spirit of everyone that uses YouTube,” Jonze said in a statement. “As well as giving out awards, we’ll be making live music videos. The whole night should feel like a YouTube video itself.”
Maughan said YouTube hopes to show that — without YouTube — people like PsSY may never have gotten a record deal.
Danielle Tiedt, YouTube’s vice president of marketing, added in a statement: “From catalysing careers and pop culture phenomena to propelling a song’s rise to No. 1 on Billboard‘s Hot 100, our global community’s influence is felt across the music industry.”