Spotify’s first musical awards ceremony

In 2006, Spotify would be created in Sweden, without even having a mobile application, it would take two years to reach the main countries of Europe, and it would not be until 2011 that it would pass the US border already with a mobile App, according to Trece Bits. 14 years later and with 271 million active users, Spotify demonstrates its power in the music world by offering something different from what it had been doing: organizing its own awards that will consist of 60 categories, the Spotify Awards.

Despite the European origin of this musical service, the first Spotify Awards will have a Latin presence, starting with the place chosen for the celebration, the National Auditorium of Mexico City, with capacity for 9366 spectators. According to Spotify, the location of the headquarters is because Mexico City is the state with the most listeners of this service, above large cities such as New York or London.

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Nominees

And when talking about Latin presence, you must also include the nominees, a long list where Bad Bunny's name stands out, since the reggaeton player is the singer with the best chance of winning awards thanks to his 13 nominations, followed by other world-class Latino artists like J Balvin and Daddy Yankee, who have 10 nominations, according to CNN.

Reggaetoneros are not the only ones who will shine at the Spotify Awards, as singers such as Shakira, Ariana Grande and the new winner of 5 Grammys, Billie Eilish, will also be present. This award will not only be for musicians, since there are categories for podcasts, among the most-nominated in this segment are “Se regalan dudas” and “Leyendas legendarias” with 4 nominations and “Alex Fernández's Podcast” with 3 appearances, according to CNN review.

Main categories

There are 60 categories in the Spotify Awards, among the main ones are: “Spotify Artist of the Year”, in which Bad Bunny, La Banda Sinaloense, Daddy Yankee, J Balvin and Ozuna are nominated; on the other hand, there will be Podcast of the year, Male Artist of the year -the same with the female artist-, Most listened song, Most shared artist, Male -and female artist- with greatest increase of fans, among many other categories dedicated to musical competition and even " Artist most listened to by users aged 18 to 29".

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And who chooses the winners?

Unlike prizes such as the Grammys, in this case there is no “Academy” behind the winners, since according to Spotify, the data obtained by the application throughout the year 2019 will be taken into account , for example, the winner of the “Spotify Artist of the Year” category will be based on the most listened to, followed, shared and added to a playlist musician. While for the “Podcast of the Year” it consists of the one with the highest proportion of streams and plays per episode.

However, it should be borne in mind that these statistics come from the data recorded in Mexico, that is, Spotify will be based on the tastes of users residing in that country. The only prize that is obtained worldwide is in the category "Artist of Mexico most listened to in the world". This may be different in the future if Spotify dares to rely on world statistics.

Where and when?

The Spotify Awards can be seen through TNT in Latin America and Telemundo in the United States, while Spotify Premium users can live stream it in Turner Latin America. This broadcast will be directed by celebrities such as Danna Paola, Luisito Comunica and Franco Escamilla. Only the 12 main nominations will be presented live, while the others will be distributed on the Spotify Social Networks. The ceremony is scheduled for March 5 at 7:00 pm in Mexico.