Mnet Video Music Awards

The MAMA Awards (formerly Mnet Asian Music Awards) is a major music awards ceremony presented annually by entertainment company CJ E&M. First held in South Korea, the majority of prizes has been won by K-pop artists, although there are other Asian artists winning in various award categories, such as for Best Asian Artist and other professional-related awards.

The awards ceremony was first held in Seoul in 1999, being aired on Mnet. MAMA has also been held in various Asian countries and cities outside of South Korea since 2010 and now airs internationally online beyond Asia.

History

Ceremony

The event was launched in 1999 as a music video awards ceremony, modeled after the MTV Video Music Awards, called the Mnet Music Video Festival. It merged with the KMTV Korean Music Awards in 2004 and was renamed the Mnet KM Music Video Festival. By the mid-2000s, the awards ceremony had attracted some international interest due to the spread of Hallyu, and it aired in China and Japan in 2008.

In 2009, the event was renamed the Mnet Asian Music Awards (MAMA) to reflect its expansion outside of South Korea. In 2010, MAMA was held in Macau, marking the first time it was held outside of South Korea. The following year, in 2011, MAMA was held in Singapore, and was then held in Hong Kong from 2012 to 2017. In 2017, the awards ceremony was expanded to four nights, and parts of the event were held in Vietnam and Japan, in addition to Hong Kong. In 2018, MAMA had three parts and was held in three countries; South Korea hosted the MAMA for the first time in nine years, together with Japan and Hong Kong. In 2020, MAMA was held online only and took place in South Korea only due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

On July 20, 2021, it was reported by ''Ilgan Sports'' that the 2021 Mnet Asian Music Awards was undergoing discussion for the event to be held in Hong Kong despite the ongoing pandemic and travel restrictions. On August 23, 2022, CJ E&M announced that the event would be rebranded as simply the "MAMA Awards" going forward.

Event name

* Mnet Video Music Awards (1999)
* Mnet Music Video Festival (2000–2003)
* Mnet KM Music Video Festival (2004–2005)
* Mnet KM Music Festival (2006–2008)
* Mnet Asian Music Awards (2009–2021)
* MAMA Awards (2022–present)

Host venues

Award categories

Grand Prizes

The four grand prizes (known as ''daesang'')

* MAMA Award for Artist of the Year, Artist of the Year
* MAMA Award for Album of the Year, Album of the Year
* MAMA Award for Song of the Year, Song of the Year
* MAMA Award for Worldwide Icon of the Year, Worldwide Icon of the Year (since 2018)

Competitive awards

Unless otherwise noted, each award category was introduced in 1999.
* MAMA Award for Best Male Artist, Best Male Artist
* MAMA Award for Best Female Artist, Best Female Artist
* MAMA Award for Best Male Group, Best Male Group (since 2000, was known as Best Group in 1999)
* MAMA Award for Best Female Group, Best Female Group (since 2000)
* MAMA Award for Best New Artist (Solo or Group), Best New Artist
* MAMA Award for Best Dance Performance, Best Dance Performance
* MAMA Award for Best Band Performance, Best Band Performance
* MAMA Award for Best Rap Performance, Best Rap Performance
* MAMA Award for Best Vocal Performance, Best Vocal Performance (since 2010)
* MAMA Award for Best Collaboration, Best Collaboration (2010, 2012, 2014–2017, 2019–present)
* MAMA Award for Best OST, Best OST (2004)
* MAMA Award for Best Music Video, Best Music Video (since 2006)
* Best Unit (2018)

Special awards

These awards have been given once or occasionally.
* Mnet Asian Music Award for Best International Artist, Best International Artist (1999–2006, 2009–2010, 2012–2014, 2019, 2021)
* MAMA Award for Best Asian Artist, Best Asian Artist (since 2004)
* Mnet Asian Music Awards in the Special Awards Category, Other special awards

Discontinued awards

* Mnet Asian Music Award for Best Music Video, Music Video of the Year (1999–2005)
(former ''daesang'' award and currently Mnet Asian Music Award for Best Music Video, Best Music Video since 2006)
* Mnet Asian Music Awards in the Music Video Awards Category#Best Popular Music Video, Best Popular Music Video (1999–2005)
(former ''daesang'' award)
* Mnet Asian Music Awards in the Music Video Awards Category#Best Music Video Performance, Best Music Video Performance (2005–2007)
* Mnet Asian Music Awards in the Music Video Awards Category#Best Music Video Director, Best Music Video Director (1999–2006)
* Mnet Asian Music Award for Best Mixed Group, Best Mixed Group (2000–2009)
* Mnet Asian Music Award for Best Ballad/R&B Performance, Best Ballad Performance (1999–2009)
* Mnet Asian Music Award for Best Ballad/R&B Performance, Best R&B Performance (2000–2007)
* Mnet Asian Music Awards in the Genre-Specific Awards Category#Best Indie, Best Indie Performance (1999–2002)
* Mnet Asian Music Awards in the Genre-Specific Awards Category#Best House & Electronic, Best House & Electronic Performance (2007–2009)
* Mnet Asian Music Awards in the Genre-Specific Awards Category#Best Trot, Best Trot Performance (2009)
* Mnet Asian Music Awards in the Genre-Specific Awards Category#Best Digital Single, Best Digital Single (2010)

Most wins

''Daesang'' awards

The following lists the artist(s) who received two or more ''daesang'' awards.
(Includes Mnet Asian Music Award for Artist of the Year, Artist of the Year, Mnet Asian Music Award for Album of the Year, Album of the Year, Mnet Asian Music Award for Song of the Year, Song of the Year, and Mnet Asian Music Award for Worldwide Icon of the Year, Worldwide Icon of the Year)

Competitive awards

The following lists the artist(s) who received two or more competitive awards.

Controversies

Boycotting incidents

In 2007, Lee Min-woo and Shin Hye-sung from the group Shinhwa canceled their appearance at the event one hour before the 2007 Mnet KM Music Festival, awards ceremony began. Shin later said they left because they did not trust the event to fairly select winners.

In 2009, entertainment companies Inwoo Production and SM Entertainment boycotted the 2009 Mnet Asian Music Awards, 2009 awards ceremony with none of their artists attending. Both companies said the reason for their boycott was that they questioned the fairness of the voting process. In particular, SM Entertainment said that Girls' Generation had held the #1 spot on a music chart for nine consecutive weeks, but the group never won first place on Mnet's weekly ''M Countdown'' music show. The company also criticized a mobile poll which required participants to pay money in order to vote. In 2010, SM Entertainment artists also did not attend the year's awards ceremony.

Voter fraud

Prior to the 2017 Mnet Asian Music Awards, 2017 awards ceremony, Mnet found that some fans had cast fraudulent votes through the use of Internet bot, bots. As a result, Mnet temporarily halted voting, then nullified all fraudulent votes, blocked relevant IP addresses, and deleted relevant user accounts.

Broadcasting

The show was broadcast live in over 13 countries across Asia. In South Korea, it is broadcast on Mnet, TVING and across CJ E&M channels where it was available. Other broadcasters that also broadcast the event include Mnet Japan, Mnet Smart+, au (mobile phone company), au Smart Pass (which sponsored the awards), TVN (Asian TV channel), tvN Asia, Far EasTone Mobile Circle app & friDay Video, MeWATCH, Media Prima#Media Prima Television Networks, TonTon & FPT Group, FPT Play. Previously the awards show was aired on JOOX, ViuTV, alongside with Smart Communications, Smart GigaPlay and Vidio, in which both of the latered platform has already include tvN Asia.

The show is also broadcast online via Mnet K-POP, Mnet TV, M2, as well as KCON (music festival), KCON official YouTube channel for the rest of the world.

Notes

References

External links

*

{{Authority control

Asian music
MAMA Awards,
South Korean music awards
South Korea annual television specials
Awards established in 1999
CJ E&M Music Performance Division
Annual events in South Korea
1999 establishments in South Korea
Performing arts trophies