Spotify is hosting its first awards ceremony tonight (March 5) in Mexico City. Much like other awards ceremonies, Spotify will invite some of today’s top artists to perform live on stage. For their first annual ceremony, Spotify is calling upon top Latin pop stars Bad Bunny, J Balvin, and Karol G to give performances of some of their hit songs.
According to Spotify, their awards will differ from big ceremonies like the Grammys. Rather than a board of directors choosing the winners and nominations, Spotify’s awards will be “100% based on user-generated data.” That means that the awards are based solely on users’ listening stats.
Since the company launched in Mexico in 2013, the capital city has garnered more listeners than any other city globally. In a statement, Managing Director of Spotify Latin America Mia Nygren explained why the company chose Mexico City as their ceremony location. “Thanks to streaming and the true audience size of Mexico, users are in the front seat like never before. We decided to celebrate this by recognizing what users love based entirely on their listening. The Spotify Awards is all about this, giving everyone an opportunity to be part of the show.”
Spotify’s first annual awards ceremony takes place tonight at 9 p.m. EST. Spotify Premium users can livestream the awards ceremony here.
