Mnet Asian Music Awards

The Mnet Asian Music Awards (commonly abbreviated as MAMA) is one of the major K-pop music awarding ceremonies held annually by CJ E&M Music and Live, involving the participation of some of the most well-known actors and idols. As one of the most important events in the South Korean music industry, it has been attended by many popular and most successful K-pop singers such as Lee Hyori, 2NE1, 2PM, BoA, TVXQ, Super Junior, Big Bang, Girls' Generation, Brown Eyed Girls, IU, Infinite, Exo (band), Beast (South Korean band), Shinee and other musically active artistes in South Korea.

History
The Awards began in 1999 under the name "M.net KM Music Festival" (MKMF) till 2008.

In 2009, the Awards was renamed to "M.net Asian Music Awards" (MAMA). This marked a change in concept and the way they will handle how people may vote for which artistes win the awards. The 2009 MAMA was broadcast live in China, Japan, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia through Channel V International. The special main event is the "Global Artist Award". In addition, a trot award is added to the genre along with other pop music awards.

For the first time, the 2010 M.net Asian Music Festival was held outside of South Korea. For the 12th annual event, it was held at the Venetian Resort Macao in Macao, China and aired live in many countries. BoA won the "Best Female Solo Award" but was not present to accept the award due to S.M. Entertainment's (BoA's music agency) controversies with Mnet Media. The award presentation was not broadcast. In addition, CNBLUE who won "Best New Male Group Award", 2AM, who won "Best Vocal Performance by a Group", and 2AM's Jo Kwon and Ga-In, who won "Best Collaboration" were also not broadcast due to attendance.

In 2011, the Mnet Asian Music Awards took place in the Singapore Indoor Stadium and had performances from famous international artists such as apl.de.ap and will.i.am from The Black Eyed Peas, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Kumi Koda and Jane Zhang. The MAMAs is co-hosted by Singapore broadcaster MediaCorp.

2009: Boycott
In 2009, S.M. Entertainment and Inwoo Production boycotted the 2009 MAMA event on 21 November, hence none of their artists attended the event. Inwoo Production representing trot singers Jang Yoon-jeong and Park Hyun-bin, announced the boycott and questioned the fairness of the awards ceremony. S.M. Entertainment stated 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".

SS501 from DSP Media, Son Dam-bi and After School from Pledis Entertainment also did not attend the award ceremony but cited scheduling conflicts rather than boycott.

2010: Non-attendance
In 2010, Rain, MBLAQ, 2AM, Beast, T-ara, Davichi 4Minute, Kara, Super Junior, Girls' Generation, Wheesung, BoA, After School, Son Dam-bi, Lee Hyori, CNBLUE, G.NA, and Rainbow who were all nominated did not attend the 2010 MAMA event in Macau, the first time it was held overseas. Many cited scheduling conflicts and that the live broadcast of MAMA on November 28 clashed with the live weekly broadcast of SBS's music show Inkigayo. Core Contents Media stated that T-ara and Davichi will not be attending due to scheduling conflicts. FNC announced that CN Blue will not attend due to individual activities despite being nominated for "Rookie of the Year", "Best Band Performance" and the "Shilla Duty Free Asian Wave" award. Jung Yong-hwa of CN Blue is also one of the three MCs for Inkigayo and member Kang Min Hyuk will be taking part in a SBS upcoming drama. J. Tune Entertainment and Pledis Entertainment also stated that their artists would not be attending.

Broadcasting
The show is broadcast live in thirteen countries across Asia. In South Korea and Japan, it is broadcast on Mnet. Other TV channels that have broadcast the show include STAR World, Channel M (Southeast Asia), Channel V, Music On! TV (Japan), 8TV (Malaysia), MediaCorp Channel U (Singapore), Indosiar (Indonesia), Myx (Philippines), MY TV (Cambodia), Mnet America  (United States), NRK (Norway) and SBS (Australia). The show is also broadcast online from Mnet's website in South Korea, Sohu in China, YouTube Live and Allkpop for the rest of the world.

Grand awards

 * Album of the Year (올해의 앨범상)
 * Song of the Year (올해의 노래상)
 * Artist of the Year (올해의 가수상)

Singer awards

 * Best Male Solo (남자 가수상)
 * Best Female Solo (여자 가수상)
 * Best Male Group (남자 그룹상)
 * Best Female Group (여자 그룹상)
 * Best Mixed Group (not awarded in 2010)
 * Best New Male/Female Group/Solo (신인상 (남자/여자))

Genre-specific awards

 * Best Male Solo Dance Performance (베스트 댄스 퍼포먼스 (남자 솔로))
 * Best Female Solo Dance Performance (베스트 댄스 퍼포먼스 (여자 솔로))
 * Best Male Group Dance Performance (베스트 댄스 퍼포먼스 (남자 그룹))
 * Best Female Group Dance Performance (베스트 댄스 퍼포먼스 (여자 그룹))
 * Best Male Solo Vocal Performance (베스트 보컬 퍼포먼스 (남자 솔로))
 * Best Female Solo Vocal Performance (베스트 보컬 퍼포먼스 (여자 솔로))
 * Best Group Vocal Performance (베스트 보컬 퍼포먼스 (그룹))
 * Best Band Performance (베스트 밴드 퍼포먼스)
 * Best Rap Performance (베스트 랩 퍼포먼스)

Special awards

 * Best Collaboration (베스트 콜라보레이션)
 * Best Digital Single (베스트 디지털 싱글)
 * Best OST (베스트 OST) (not awarded only in 2010)

Global Awards

 * Best Global Group – Male
 * Best Global Group – Female
 * Next Generation Global Star – Female
 * Next Generation Global Star – Male

Other awards

 * Best International Artist (베스트 인터내셔널 아티스트상)
 * Best Asian Artist (베스트 아시아 아티스트상)
 * Best Music Video (뮤직비디오 작품상)
 * Asia New Artist (아시아 뉴 아티스트상)
 * Performance Award (공연상)
 * Discovery of the Year (올해의 발견)
 * Style in Music (스타일 인 뮤직)

Defunct Awards

 * Best Asian Male Group (베스트 아시아 남자 그룹상)
 * Best Pop Artist (베스트 팝 아티스트상)
 * Producer Award(프로듀서상)
 * Music Video Director Award(뮤직비디오 감독상)
 * Choreographer Award (안무상)
 * Adult Music Award(성인 음악상)
 * Music Video of the Year (최우수 작품상)
 * Best Popular Music Video (최고 인기 뮤직비디오 상)
 * Ballad award (not awarded since 2010)
 * R&B award (not awarded since 2010)
 * House & electronic award (not awarded since 2010)
 * Trot award (not awarded since 2010)
 * Indie award
 * Style Award (스타일상)
 * Shilla Duty Free Asian Wave Award (신라면세점 Asian Wave상)

Grand Prizes (Daesang)
From 1999 to 2005 the Grand Prizes had two awards: Music Video of the Year and Best Popular Music Video. In 2006, the categories were changed to Album of the Year, Song of the Year and Artist of the Year.

Band
This award was introduced at the 12th annual award ceremony. The title of this award is "Best Band Performance".

Best Collaboration
This award was introduced at the 12th annual award ceremony. The title of this award is "Best Collaboration".

Overseas Viewer's award
In 2007, M and Shin Hye Sung, both members of Shinhwa left the MKMF event right before broadcasting.

Most winners
The current holders who have won the most awards are Super Junior with 16 awards, 3 of them being grand awards and after TVXQ with 14. They are followed by 2NE1 with 11 awards, 4 of them being grand awards. Then Shinhwa, Big Bang, G-Dragon with 8 awards, thereafter Psy and BoA with 7 awards.