BBC Music Awards Announced

Not short on announcements this week, BBC Music has announced the artist shortlisted for its 2016 awards, taking place on December 10th at the Genting Arena, Birmingham.

Foals, Adele, Ed Sheeran, Jamie XX, Florence + The Machine and Years & Years are all up for British Artist Of The Year. Adele At The BBC is up for BBC Live Performance of the Year, alongside Glastonbury performances from Florence + The Machine and Lionel Richie (pictured), Jeff Lynne’s ELO (Radio 2 In Concert) and BBC Proms events Late Night With… BBC Radio 1 and Late Night With… BBC Radio 1Xtra.

Elsewhere, Foo Fighters, Hozier, Major Lazer, Prince, Taylor Swift and The Weeknd are nominated for International Artist of the Year. Voting for the Song Of The Year category will take place on December 9th.

Controller of Radio 2, 6 Music, Asian Network and BBC Music Director Bob Shennan said: “What a year it’s been for music. Our shortlists represent the artists who have created some of the biggest and most impactful music moments of the year. I’m looking forward to the big unveiling in Birmingham next week”.

Now in its second year, the BBC Music Awards will be hosted by Chris Evans and Fearne Cotton and will take place in front of a live audience. In the build up, a week of live concerts will be held across Birmingham, showcasing new talent from the city.

Live performers will include Jess Glynne, Ellie Goulding, One Direction, Little Mix, James Bay, Rod Stewart and Mumford and Sons, with some of the acts backed by the BBC Concert Orchestra.

Auntie has also announced that it is to launch a BBC Music app next year, though it will sensibly focus on BBC content as opposed to being a commercial streaming service that will take on the likes of Spotify. As reported here by What Hi-Fi, this will be a native app for Android and iOS devices and will focus on the buzzword of the year, personalization alongside a healthy dollop of curation with a side dish of disruption.