I’ve won several things over the years, from a Maggie Award for Best Online Column to heated ping-pong and foosball matches at various dotcoms over the years, but this is the oddest nomination yet. MTV’s O Music Awards announced its nominees tonight, and what do you know, yours truly makes an appearance in the NILF category. (NILF stands for Nerds-ILF – the link is not safe for minors or in places of employment with extremely uptight online policies.)
As part of this iteration of the MTV O Music Awards (the “O” stands for “Offbeat, Outrageous, Online”), The Flaming Lips will attempt to break Jay-Z’s Guinness-certified record for Most Live Concerts In 24 Hours (Multiple Cities), but mainly, the MTV O Awards are all about fan voting.
I’m apparently running against some heavy hitters in the NILF category, including Napster co-founder and Facebook/Spotify investor Sean Parker; the New York Times’ Jenna Wortham; and Twitter head of music Tatiana Simonian. I’m not really sure what to say about the nomination other than… I’m honored?
We at Evolver.fm are also interested in the Best Music App category, where nominees include the Spotify iPad app, Tomahawk, Songza, Artist Growth, and Live Nation’s Facebook App. I personally am also interested in Most Innovative Music Video, which features my brother’s and cousin’s band, Javelin (watch their video here).
You can vote here, starting now, on all 24 categories:
1. Fan Army FTW (Winner: Artist)
Description: Fan armies are like fan clubs of old – with Twitter. Dedicated to the band of their preference, they turn out in droves – digitally and physically – to support a band’s every venture.
| Tokio Hotel “Aliens” | Adam Lambert “Glamberts” |
| One Direction “The Directioners” | Thirty Seconds to Mars “Echelon” |
| Mindless Behavior “Team Mindless” | The Wanted “TWFanmily” |
| 2NE1 “Blackjacks” | Girls Generation (SNSD) “Sones” |
| Taylor Swift “Taylor Nation” | Mumford & Sons “Team Mumford and Sons” |
2. Must Follow Artist on Twitter (Winner: Artist)
Description: Bands who are making 140-characters their bitch – without being management’s bitch (IE, all tweets are their own – we think).
| Adam Lambert | Titus Andronicus |
| Yoko Ono | Lil B |
| St. Vincent | The Antlers |
| Childish Gambino | Questlove |
| Blake Shelton | Diplo |
| Tanlines |
3. Most Adorable Viral Star (Winner: Viral Stars)
Description: The web is full of children and animals doing musical things adorably. Let us celebrate them!
| William Stokkebroe | “My First Hardcore Song” by Juliet |
| Howard Wong | “Super Bass” by Sophia Grace Brownlee |
| “Someone Like You” by Makena | “Bone Pugz” |
| “The Elements Song” by Rose | Children Medieval Band covers Rammstein’s “Sonne”: |
| “I’m Elmo and I Know It” by Elmo | Ethan Walmark covers “Piano Man” |
4. Digital Genius Award (Winner: Artist)
Description: These musicians go above and beyond when it comes to their art. We’re not just talking about people who use Twitter and dabble in digital music here – each and every one is an innovator, early adopter and deeply immersed in the music/tech scene. More importantly, they do it on their own, not at the behest of labels or managers.
| Gorillaz | OK Go |
| The Flaming Lips | Amanda Palmer |
| iamamiwhoami |
5. Most Innovative Music Video (Winner: Artist)
Description: When we say “Innovative,” we don’t mean “well-directed” or “cool” – we mean folks who tapped into technology to create a new form of art: from choose-you-own-adventure masterpieces to 3D flicks to Kickstarter-funded opuses.
| Tanlines “Brothers” | Chairlift “Have We Met Before” |
| Chris Bathgate “Big Ghost” | We The Kings “Say You Like Me” |
| Ellie Goulding “Lights” | Red Hot Chili Peppers “Look Around” |
| Arcade Fire “Sprawl II” | Craig Wedren “Crush You” |
| Jacob Krupnick’s “Girl Walk” | Javelin “Canyon Candy” |
6. Best Web-Born Artist (Winner: Artist)
Description: These artists did not hit the big-time because they immediately scored a record deal or got “discovered” playing live. No, each and every one broke out because they used the web to get ahead – from Kickstarter-funded albums to songs that blew up on blogs to bands who met via email.
| Julia Nunes | Walk Off The Earth |
| Youth Lagoon | Miracles of Modern Science |
| Karmin | Azealia Banks |
| Iggy Azalea | Pyyramids |
| Frank Ocean | Madeon |
7. Hottest Music NILF (Nerd I’d Like to F*ck) (Winner: NILF)
Description: Hot coders, entrepreneurs, writers, etc who work in music and tech.
| Michael Schneider, CEO of Mobile Roadie | Matthew Rosenberg, Co-ounder of Fast Society |
| Jenna Wortham, Tech Reporter, New York Times | Peggy Wang, Writer Buzzfeed, Member of The Pains of Being Pure at Heart |
| Eliot Van Buskirk, Editor, EvolverFM | Ashley Simon, Media Partnerships at Foursquare |
| Sean Parker, co-founder Napster and other ventures | Maggie Vail, Co-founder of CASH Music |
| Contessa Gayles, Associate Editor, AOL Music | Tatiana Simonian, Head of Music, Twitter |
8. Too Much Ass for TV (Winner: Artist)
Description: NSFW music videos.
| “Nancy From Now On” by Father John Misty | “Big Bad Wolf” by Duck Sauce |
| “Andrew In Drag” by Magnetic Fields | “Wassap” by A$AP Rocky |
| “On‘n’On” by Justice | “Hey Jane” by Spiritualized |
| “Crazy Clown Time” by David Lynch | “Booty Battle” video game by Big Freedia |
| “Sex on the Regular” by Miniature Tigers | “Starship” by Nicki Minaj |
9. WTF I Love This Award (Winner: Creator)
Description: Memes, random things, Internet weirdness that has to do with music. Rad.
| McRorie | Ketchupbot + 20th Century Fox Theme on a Flute |
| Beyonce fan sings “Halo” | Drinkify |
| Bear In Heaven “I Love You It’s Cool” |
10. Best Artist/ Digital Entrereneur (Winner: Artist)
Description: This category honors bands and musicians who have entered into the music tech scene as creators and innovators, backing and inventing new products and services in the digital sphere.
| Katy Goodman for “choose your own adventure” games | Wavves for “Weed Demon” |
| M.C. Hammer for search engine Wiredoo | Nicolas Jaar forClown & Music Aesthetics |
| Kanye West for DONDA |
11. Best Vintage Revival (Winner: Tech/Founder)
Description: Every year, we see old technology and trends coming back and working themselves into pop culture. In this category, we honor those trends that are making a comeback in the music world.
| Flexi discs | Cassettes |
| Records | Animated GIFS |
| 8-bit |
12. Beyond the Blog Award (Winner: Organization)
Description: The Beyond The Blog Award is honoring unconventional ways of editorializing music from radio to traditional magazines to using Twitter.
| NPR for iPad App | Nardwuar |
| La Blogotheque | Metal Injection |
| Minor Thread |
13. Best Online Concert Experience (Winner: Festival Organization)
Description: Watching concerts online is an increasingly popular trend nowadays. This category honors people and technology that are enhancing that experience.
| Jay-Z at at SXSW | Ryan Montbleau real time audio streams |
| Denison Witmer on Skype | 2Pac at Coachella via hologram |
| Coachella on YouTube |
14. Best Music App (Winner: App Developer)
Description: Honoring apps and services that are doing awesome things with music and musicians.
| Spotify iPad App | Tomahawk |
| Songza | Artist Growth |
| Live Nation Facebook App |
15. Best Music Hack (Winner: Hacker/Developer)
Description: Anything and everything that was created during a Music Hack Day or any other hacking event.
| Swarm.fm | Ivy |
| Song Roulette | Bohemian Rhapsichord |
| Mixtape Alpha |
16. Best Artist with a Cameraphone (Winner: Artist)
Description: Musicians who take wonderful snaps with their mobile phones and then share them with us normal folks.
| Ed Droste | Soulja Boy |
| MC Hammer | Blood Orange |
| Justin Bieber | Greg Puciato |
| Kreayshawn | Theophilus London |
| Selena Gomez | YACHT |
17. Most Addictive Social Music Service (Winner: Service)
Description: Here we honor any mobile or web services that make listening to music a social experience.
| Chill | Myxer Social Radio |
| Soundrop app for Spotify | This Is My Jam |
| Mixlr |
18. Best Protest Song (Winner: Artist/singer)
Description: There has been a lot to get up in arms about this year. Luckily, people have the Web – and services like YouTube – as an outlet.
| Robert Wilkinson sings “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen | Dan Bull “SOPA Cabana” |
| Atari Teenage Riot “Black Flags” | “The Day The LOLCATS Died” |
| “We Are Trayvon” by Plies |
19. Beyond: The DJ: Most Innovative Solo Performer (Winner: Artist)
Description: Modern technology – both hardware and software — has birthed a band-new breed of musicians: Intrepid solo performers who both sample and blend the music of others into wholly new creations, and utilize programs and tools to create full, breathtaking songs without the aid of a band or other musicians. Like Djs, these musicians often take the stage solo, surrounded by sound boards and decked out in headphones, but instead of just spinning and mixing the tunes of others, they’re creating original compositions that stand on their own.
| Grimes | Dan Deacon |
| MNDR | Reggie Watts |
| Girl Talk |
20. Most Extreme Fan Outreach (Winner: Artist)
Description: The gap between artist and fan is getting smaller and smaller with the rise of social media. These artists got even closer to their followers using digital tools – perhaps too close.
| Bon Jovi | Dustin Wong: |
| Manchester Orchestra | Portugal. The Man |
| Snoop Dogg | Taylor Swift |
| Deadmau5 | Wayne Coyne |
| Riot In Paris | DJ Shadow |
21. Most Fucked-up Live Performance Gone Viral (Winner: Artist)
Description: In the past, if you botched a performance the masses would point, laugh and subsequently forget about it a few weeks later. Now, those FAILs are archived for future generations to mock on the World Wide Web.
| The Fray | Kelvin Cheung |
| Lana Del Rey | MIA |
| Winters Mistress |
22. Most Intense Social Spat (Winner: Both Artists)
Description: Thanks to the Web, users can teach themselves anything from the comfort of their own homes. Here are some of our favorite at-home teaching tools.
| Fucked Up vs. Katy Perry | Patrick Carney vs. Everyone |
| David Furnish vs. Madonna | Frances Cobain vs. Courtney Love |
| Nicki Minaj vs. Her Twitter Followers |
23. Best Music Teacher Replacement (Winner: Founder)
Description: Thanks to the Web, users can teach themselves anything from the comfort of their own homes. Here are some of our favorite at-home teaching tools.
| Tabber Guitar | James Taylor |
| Guitar TV | Bandhappy |
| Pandora Inside The Music |
24. O Music Awards Super Fan Award (Winner: Super Fan)