<<

KANYE WEST SET TO MAKE HISTORY WITH SEVENTH VMA PERFORMANCE

WEST'S "BLKKK SKKKN HEAD" TO MARK TRIUMPHANT RETURN TO THE "2013 MTV VIDEO MUSIC AWARDS" STAGE LIVE FROM ’S ON SUNDAY AUGUST 25, TO AIR ON MTV UK MONDAY AUGUST 26 AT 9PM

Fresh Off the Critically-Acclaimed Release of the #1 Groundbreaking Album, , West Set To Tie for Most VMA Performances

New York, NY (August 6, 2013) - MTV announced today via its various social media platforms that megastar is set to perform on the "2013 MTV Video Music Awards” stage LIVE from Brooklyn’s Barclays Center on Sunday August 25. You can catch all the action on MTV UK on Monday 26th August at 9pm. Following his performance of "BLKKK SKKKN HEAD," Kanye will triumphantly enter the history books by tying Madonna as the artist with the most VMA performances. Both artists have notched performances at seven separate VMAs.

As a three-time VMA award winner, Kanye West has delivered some of the most visually stunning and memorable performances to date including the first look at - which would become the highest grossing tour in hip-hop history - “Otis” with JAY Z in 2011; the innovative, theatrical staging and visuals of “Runaway” in 2010; his performance debut with auto-tune on “” in 2008, a sound that would influence and dominate the charts for years to come; the hugely-influential, Daft Punk-sampling “Stronger” and “Good Life” with T-Pain in 2007; the mega-hit “Gold Digger” featuring in 2005, and his VMA debut performance with a medley of “//Through The Wire” featuring in 2004. With this forthcoming performance, he will tie Madonna as the artist with the most VMA performances with performances at seven separate VMA ceremonies.

West joins previously announced VMA performer , who will perform the new single from her highly anticipated upcoming fourth studio album, ARTPOP. Additional 2013 “MTV Video Music Awards” performers will be announced at a later date.

Justin Timberlake and & lead this year’s VMA pack with six overall nominations each. Timberlake’s nominations include “Video of the Year,” “Best Male Video,” “Best Pop Video” and “Best Editing” for “Mirrors,” while his “Suit & Tie” featuring JAY Z, scored nods for “Best Collaboration,” and “Best Direction.” Previously, Timberlake has taken home seven “Video Music Awards,” including “Best Pop Video” for “Cry Me a River.”

Fresh off their show stopping performances at the “MTV Movie Awards” and “mtvU Woodie Awards,” Macklemore & Ryan Lewis score their first-ever “Video ” nominations with six nods (tying in total nominations) including “Video of the Year” for their smash hit “,” “Best Hip Hop Video,” “Best Cinematography,” “Best Direction,” and “Best Editing” for “Can’t Hold Us featuring ,” while “” received a nod for "Best Video with a Social Message."

Bruno Mars continues his hugely successful year by garnering four nominations including “Video of the Year,” “Best Pop Video,” and “Best Male Video” for “Locked Out of Heaven,” and “Best Choreography” for the smooth summer groove, “Treasure.”

P!nk, , and are each up for three Video Music Awards. P!nk’s powerful “” featuring Nate Ruess garnered multiple nominations for “Best Female Video,” “Best Collaboration” and “Best Editing.” Robin Thicke’s sexy video for “” feat T.I. and Pharrell received VMA nods for “Video of the Year,” “Best Male Video” and “Best Collaboration.” Miley Cyrus’ millennial anthem “We Can’t Stop” is up for “Best Female Video,” “Best Pop Video” and “Best Editing” while Thirty Seconds To Mars’ “Up In The Air” received nominations for “Best Rock Video,” “Best Art Direction” and “Best Cinematography.”

Other notable nominees receiving multiple 2013 Video Music Award nods range from the worlds of Pop, Hip-Hop, EDM, R&B and Rock and include previously nominated artists such as , , fun., , and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs as well as first-time VMA nominees , Lana Del Rey, and Capital Cities.

Winners will take home a special-edition Moonman, re-imagined by world-renowned, Brooklyn- based artist created exclusively for this year’s show.

To build anticipation for the show, MTV launched a successful cross platform social campaign, #RoadToTheVMAs, which features the Moonman in a myriad of iconic locations throughout Brooklyn and NYC. Thus far, the campaign has garnered more than 53 million social media impressions to date including over half a million likes on Instagram, 37.5 million impressions on , 14.4 million impressions on Facebook and over 1 million impressions on Tumblr. MTV continued its creative use of social media by rolling out the 2013 VMA nominations as a series of imaginative stop motion videos created by 23-year old artist, Khoa, on the @MTV Instagram and Vine accounts.

Official sponsors of the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards adidas Originals, COVERGIRL, Kia Motors, ORBIT® GUM, Pepsi®, State Farm®, Taco Bell®, and Windows Phone.

“MTV Video Music Awards” Since the first “MTV Video Music Awards” aired in 1984, the VMAs instantly earned its reputation for delivering the most popular bands and artists to create the loudest, most influential and at times, the most controversial, annual live celebration of music in the world. No other award show has been responsible for creating more memorable or bigger musical moments in pop culture history than the MTV Video Music Awards. From Madonna, , Guns N’ Roses and Nirvana to , Taylor Swift, Beyoncé and Kanye West, an appearance on the VMA stage can forever change the trajectory of an artist’s career in one single night.

The 2012 “MTV Video Music Awards,” broadcast live from in , was the #1 telecast across all TV for the night of September 6, 2012 in P12-34, scoring a 5.3 P12-34 rating with 6.1 million total viewers. Across the networks (MTV, VH1, MTV2 and Logo) the simulcast of the premiere averaged 8.0 million total viewers. Encore presentations of the 2012 show on MTV earned a 2.4 P12-34 rating at 10:00 p.m., and a 1.2 P12-34 rating at 12:00 a.m., for a total rating of 8.9 for the evening.

At the time, the telecast was also the #1 social TV event of the year according to Trendrr. With more than 19 million mentions, the 2012 VMAs more than tripled the full-day social-media response of 2012’s record breaking telecast. In addition, MTV drove more online streams on this date than any other VMA show ever, and generated nearly a whopping 200 topics trended throughout the night, both in the U.S. and worldwide.

The 2013 “MTV Video Music Awards” will air across MTV’s global network of more than 60 channels reaching more than a half-billion households around the world as well as through syndication. In addition, its convergent programming and content will reach the entire interactive community, via MTV’s more than 200 digital media properties around the world. The 2012 VMAs was one of MTV’s top performers in key markets across Europe, Latin America, Asia and Australia.

Jesse Ignjatovic/Den of Thieves is the Executive Producer for the 2013 “MTV Video Music Awards.” Amy Doyle, Garrett English and Dave Sirulnick are Executive Producers. Joanna Bomberg, Jen Jones and Lee Lodge are Co-Executive Producers. Hamish Hamilton is Director. Wendy Plaut is Celebrity Talent Executive.

About MTV MTV is the world’s premier youth entertainment brand. With a global reach of more than a half-billion households, MTV is the cultural home of the millennial generation, music fans and artists, and a pioneer in creating innovative programming for young people. MTV reflects and creates pop culture with its Emmy®, Grammy® and Peabody® award-winning content built around compelling storytelling, music discovery and activism across TV, online and mobile. MTV’s sibling networks MTV2 and mtvU each deliver unparalleled customized content for young males, music fans and college students, and its online hub MTV.com is a leading destination for music, news and pop culture. MTV is a unit of Viacom Inc. (NASDAQ: VIAB, VIA), one of the world’s leading creators of programming and content across all media platforms.

“MTV VIDEO MUSIC AWARDS” TO AIR ON MTV UK MONDAY AUGUST 26 AT 9PM

Press Contacts: For more info please contact MTV Publicity: Lauren Goddard: [email protected] / 020 3580 2556 Hayley Hamburg: [email protected] / 020 3580 2558 Roberta Duman: [email protected] / 020 3580 2557