YouTube Music Awards

While critics have panned this as "just another awards show," I actually think this is quite cool and very reflective of what's going on in consumer behavior and pop culture.

The YouTube Music Awards - YTMAs (presented by Kia).

Sunday night, November 3rd, YouTube will do a live stream from New York of their very first awards celebration to recognize those videos with the most views, shares, likes, and comments from the past year.  Sure, many of the usual suspects are there like Lady Gaga (who will perform live along with Enimen) and Katy Perry, but hey I am sure they racked up a lot of social media volume with their album releases so they likely deserve the recognition.

But there are some buzz-worthy categories too that only a social media outlet could credibly crown like Response of the Year (fan created video response to an artist) and Biggest YouTube Phenomenon --- acknowledging the huge impact that fans have on music trends, sales, and our sharing habits.

YouTube has been promoting the awards heavily, getting viewers engaged early with all of the voting, the playlists, and engaging with the nominees via video.  There's plenty of underground stuff here mixed right along side the mainstream work, IMHO.  Plenty to go around.  I also respect that they limited the categories to a few core areas, so as not to overwhelm and bore us to death like some of the awards programs end up doing.

I certainly plan to view - this is the first if its kind and sure to start an evolving trend so we have to check it out.

What's your experience?  Jim.