Newcomer girl group 2NE1 lead the nominations with 4 counts, followed by label-mate G-Dragon, soloist Baek Ji Young, and boy group 2PM with 3 each. At the end of the ceremony, 2NE1 received the most wins with 3 out of 4 including the Song of the Year daesang award. Next to them was boy and girl groups 2PM and Brown Eyed Girls respectively with 2 wins.
Background
After ten years of holding the event under the name "M.net Korean Music Festival" (MKMF), the award-ceremony started to have a new name called "M.net Asian Music Awards" or simply "MAMA". This marked a change in concept and the way they will handle how people may vote for which artists win the awards.[1] With its slogan "Asian Wave", MAMA was broadcast live in China, Japan, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia through Channel V International.
SM Entertainment and Inwoo Production boycotted the event on November 21, hence none of their artists attended the event. The latter company, representing trot singers Jang Yun-jeong and Park Hyun-bin, announced the boycott and questioned the fairness of the awards ceremony. Meanwhile, the former stated through a press release that they have reservation regarding the standard of fairness and criteria used in their selections, citing that Girls' Generation had topped a music chart for nine consecutive weeks but was never placed first place on their show and only debut on their charts a month after the album was released. They also asked that their artists be removed from a mobile poll which requires participants to pay a fee in order to vote saying they "do not want to see fans suffer any damage from the poll which has commercial intentions".[7]
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