The Melon Music Awards (Korean: 멜론 뮤직어워드) is a major music awards show that is held annually by Kakao Entertainment (a Kakao company) through its online music storeMelon. The event was initially a fan-voted award conducted entirely online from 2005 through 2008, and has been officially held offline in Seoul since 2009.[1]
The award show uses digital data from the Melon music platform—along with online voting and judges evaluation—to base its awards to artists who have had exceptional performance during the year.[2]
The awards show underwent a logo rebranding starting with the 2019 edition. 2020 Melon Music Awards was held for 4 days from December 2 to 5, dubbed as "MMA Week", and was broadcast online due to government restrictions imposed because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.[3]
^[d] Record of The Year, Music Video Award, Song Writer Award, MBC Music Star Award, Performing Arts Award, Global Star Award, QQ Asia Artist Award, Hall of Fame Award, Kakao Hot Star Award
Lee Daewon's "Champion", Jang Minho's "Read and Ignored", Jung Dongwon and Nam Seungmin's "Hit It Off", Young & Wild's "Thirsty", Ko Jaegeun's "Love Cowboy", Sungwonee's "Because of Money", and Han Leejae's "Knock Knock Knock"
The 1st Melon Music Awards ceremony was broadcast through CU Media's y-star, Dramax and Comedy TV channels. Internet partners include Melon, Nate (then a sister brand), GOMTV and Afreeca TV (2009-2010).
In 2010, LOEN Entertainment partnered with MBC Plus Media, and the latter transmitted the awards night through MBC every1, MBC Dramanet (from 2010 to 2011 and 2013), MBC Game (now defunct) and MBC Life (now defunct). When MBC Music was launched in 2012, it shared the honor of being the flagship station of MMA with MBC every1. MBC QueeN joined in 2013.
Daum was the local internet partner in 2013. One year later, it merged with LOEN's incumbent parent companyKakao.
In 2018, the awards show was broadcast on JTBC2, JTBC4, 1theK, and KakaoTV as part of their partnership with JTBC Plus Media.[23]
Since 2011, Alphabet Inc.'s YouTube (specifically the 1theK (formerly LOEN Music) channel) is the internet broadcast partner of Melon Music Awards. Microsoft's Zune was the first internet broadcast partner (2009).
Joox, another Tencent-owned music service, together with its sister property Sanook.com, brought Melon Music Awards to its users in Thailand in 2016 and 2017.
^Park, Gun-wook (December 17, 2009). "'제 1회 멜론 뮤직어워드', 성공가능성 쐈다". Asia's Economy (in Korean). Archived from the original on February 24, 2021. Retrieved December 7, 2020.
^Son, Jin-ah (October 28, 2020). 멜론뮤직어워드, 12월 첫째주 온라인 개최…MMA WEEK 진행(공식) [(Official) Melon Music Awards, held online in the first week of December…Proceed with MMA Week]. Sports Maekyung (in Korean). Archived from the original on October 31, 2020. Retrieved December 7, 2020 – via Naver.
^"음악사이트 멜론, 첫 디지털 음원 연말 시상식 개최!" [Music site Melon hosts the first digital music year-end awards ceremony!]. Sports Kyunghyang (in Korean). November 9, 2009. Archived from the original on October 22, 2022. Retrieved February 6, 2022 – via Naver.
^"'2012 멜론 뮤직 어워드', 12월14일 열린다" ['2012 Melon Music Awards' to be held on December 14]. Herald Pop (in Korean). November 15, 2012. Archived from the original on August 5, 2023. Retrieved February 6, 2022 – via Naver.
^"[사진]박은지-타쿠야,'우리가 멜론 뮤직 어워드 진행자'" [[Photo] Eunji Park and Takuya, 'We are the hosts of the Melon Music Awards']. Osen (in Korean). November 13, 2014. Archived from the original on October 25, 2022. Retrieved February 22, 2022 – via Naver.
^"멜론, 국내 최대 음악축제 '2015 멜론 뮤직 어워드' 개최" [Melon hosts Korea's largest music festival '2015 Melon Music Awards']. Sports Seoul (in Korean). October 1, 2015. Archived from the original on August 5, 2023. Retrieved October 24, 2022 – via Naver.
^"2017 멜론뮤직어워드, 12월2일 고척돔서 개최[공식]" [2017 Melon Music Awards, held at Gocheok Dome on December 2nd [Official]]. Sports Dong-a. September 14, 2017. Archived from the original on May 1, 2019 – via Naver.
^"멜론뮤직어워드, 12월 첫째주 온라인 개최…MMA Week 진행(공식)" [Melon Music Awards will be held online in the first week of December … MMA Week in progress (official)]. MK Sports (in Korean). October 28, 2020. Archived from the original on November 1, 2020 – via Naver.
^"멜론뮤직어워드 12월 2일 인천 영종도서 개최" [Melon Music Awards held on December 2nd at Yeongjong Island, Incheon]. Yonhap News Agency (in Korean). October 19, 2023. Retrieved October 19, 2023 – via Naver.