The MAMA Awards (Korean: 마마 어워즈, formerly Mnet Asian Music Awards)[1] is a major music awards ceremony presented annually by entertainment company CJ ENM. 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.[2] MAMA has also been held in various Asian countries and cities outside of South Korea since 2010 and now airs internationally online beyond Asia.[3][4]
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.[2][5] It merged with the KMTV Korean Music Awards in 2004 and was renamed the Mnet KM Music Video Festival.[6][7] 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.[2][8]
In 2009, the event was renamed the Mnet Asian Music Awards (MAMA) to reflect its expansion outside of South Korea.[9] 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.[8] 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.[2] 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.[10][11][12][13]
Mnet Asian Music Awards logo
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.[14] On August 23, 2022, CJ E&M announced that the event would be rebranded as simply the "MAMA Awards" going forward.[15]
In 2007, Lee Min-woo and Shin Hye-sung from the group Shinhwa canceled their appearance at the event one hour before the awards ceremony began. Shin later said they left because they did not trust the event to fairly select winners.[27]
In 2009, entertainment companies Inwoo Production and SM Entertainment boycotted the 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.[28] In 2010, SM Entertainment artists also did not attend the year's awards ceremony.[29]
Voter fraud
Prior to the 2017 awards ceremony, Mnet found that some fans had cast fraudulent votes through the use of bots. As a result, Mnet temporarily halted voting, then nullified all fraudulent votes, blocked relevant IP addresses, and deleted relevant user accounts.[30][31]
Broadcasting
The ceremony broadcasts live worldwide via Mnet, TVING, tvN Asia, Mnet Japan, Mnet Smart+, other CJ ENM channels, and YouTube through Mnet K-POP, Mnet TV, M2, and KCON channels.
^Bae, Young-eun (December 5, 2004). 보아 'My Name', 올해 최고의 뮤직비디오 [BoA's 'My Name' is the best music video of the year]. Joy News 24 (in Korean). Archived from the original on June 14, 2022. Retrieved June 14, 2022 – via Naver.
^Hwang Ji-young (July 20, 2021). "[단독] '2021 MAMA' 코로나 위기 속 홍콩 개최 논의 '솔솔'" [[Exclusive] Discussion about holding '2021 MAMA' in Hong Kong amid Corona crisis 'Solsol']. Daum (in Korean). Ilgan Sports. Archived from the original on July 20, 2021. Retrieved July 20, 2021.
^ abc"MAMA History". Mnet Global. CJ E&M. Archived from the original on February 10, 2018. Retrieved February 9, 2018.
^ abcHan Na-young (December 3, 2018). "한국 정해인·일본 박보검·홍콩 송중기…'2018 MAMA' 호스트 확정" [Korea's Jung Hae-in, Japan's Park Bo-gum, Hong Kong's Song Joong-ki ... Host confirmed for '2018 MAMA']. The Chosun Ilbo (in Korean). Archived from the original on July 20, 2021. Retrieved July 20, 2021.
^Jeon Ah-ram (December 2, 2019). "박보검 측 "'2019 MAMA' 호스트 확정…문화 교류 위해" [공식입장]" [Park Bo-gum's side "'2019 MAMA' host confirmed ... for cultural exchange" [Official position]]. Xports News (in Korean). Archived from the original on November 5, 2021. Retrieved July 20, 2021 – via Naver.
^Kim Min-ji (October 13, 2021). "'레전드 아티스트' 이효리, 2021 MAMA 호스트로 나선다" ['Legend Artist' Hyori Lee to host 2021 MAMA]. News1 (in Korean). Archived from the original on October 13, 2021. Retrieved October 13, 2021 – via Naver.
^"'2022 MAMA' 전소미X박보검 호스트 나선다 [공식]" [Jeon So-mi X Park Bo-gum to host '2022 MAMA' [Official]]. Newsen (in Korean). November 16, 2022. Archived from the original on November 16, 2022. Retrieved November 16, 2022 – via Naver.
^Kim, Yeon-ji (November 17, 2007). "이민우-신혜성, MKMF 행사직전 "불참"(종합)" [Lee Min Woo, Shin Hye Sung leave just before MKMF event]. Star News (in Korean). Archived from the original on February 11, 2018. Retrieved February 10, 2018.
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