YouTube has announced the first ever YouTube Music Awards show, which will take place at New York City’s Pier 36 on Nov. 3rd and will be a 90-minute live event. The online video platform giant has announced performances by Arcade Fire, Lady Gaga, and Eminem so far. Filmmaker Spike Jonze has signed on as creative director, with “Rushmore” and “Slackers” star Jason Schwartzman slated as the event’s host.
Jonze, who has directed music videos for the Beastie Boys and Weezer, along with the film’s “Being John Malkovich,” “Adaptation,” and “Where the Wild Things Are” told Billboard that he was intrigued by the challenge of producing an “unconventional” awards show. “I want to find out if we can make a whole night just about making things….instead of just doing performances, can we do live collaborations?”
YouTube’s vice president of marketing, Danielle Tiedt explained, “We’re trying to create live videos during the award shows so that the experience becomes more about creating than presenting. Music is our bread and butter and our heart and soul here at YouTube. Our main goal is to not just do another award show. We wanted to do something special.”
Nominations for the YouTube Music Awards will be announced Oct. 17, based on the videos that the users watched and shared in the the past year. Categories have not yet been announced, but data-driven categories such as fastest-growing song are expected. Judging will take place as YouTube users determine the songs and artists who will be honored by sharing the content through social media.
[via Billboard]