Lady Gaga, Eminem, Arcade Fire To Perform At Inaugural YouTube Music Awards

Last year, Billboard changed the chart game by deciding to include online streams in its tallies — a move that solidified YouTube’s status as a major factor in the future of the music industry. And now the online video platform is looking even more like the music establishment, announcing the YouTube Music Awards taking place November 3. The inaugural ceremony will include performances from Lady Gaga, Eminem and Arcade Fire. While we figured the inaugural YouTube Awards should include performances from the likes of Justin Bieber, PSY, Carly Rae Jepsen, The Lonely Island, Rebecca Black and the “Chocolate Rain” guy, since they helped build the platform into what it is today, we suppose these big names will suffice.

But the company seems to think they can offer a new take on the staid awards experience (without resorting to twerkathons, of course), hoping the 90-minute event will be more about the experience and less about the shiny hardware. “We’re trying to create live videos during the award shows so that the experience becomes more about creating than presenting,” vice president of marketing Danielle Tiedt said in an interview.

As for what the awards will honor? The company hasn’t revealed the categories yet, but there are only six, and winners are determined from viewer votes. Jason Schwartzman will host, and Spike Jonze will serve as creative director.

[via Billboard]