CJ E&M’s Shin Hyung-kwan (CJ E&M)

The annual Mnet Asia Music Awards -- currently the largest music festival in the region -- will be taking place in Hong Kong at the Asia World Expo on Dec. 2 at 8 p.m.

The highlights for this year’s MAMA event were announced at a press conference Wednesday at the headquarters of CJ E&M, cable TV channel Mnet’s parent company.

They included new features, themes and a sneak peek at the stage lineup. The production staff also addressed some of the criticism the pan-Asian awards ceremony has come under during the past few years.

New category to award music producers

In addition to the existing 21 categories that award performing artists, a new category for Best Professional has been added to celebrate distinguished music producers, recording engineers and show producers.

Producer Kim Ki-woong (CJ E&M)

“We are aiming for MAMA to cover not only (performing) artists but also skilled professionals behind the scene,” said Kim Ki-woong, who is in charge of the 2015 MAMA production.

“For the awardees, we received recommendations from 100 or so music industry insiders in Korea, in addition to those from experts in 60 other countries where our channel (Mnet) is being syndicated,” Kim said.

“We hope to expand this category in the future to recognize skilled professionals in all fields of music production in Asia,” he added.

High-tech features: Stunning stage set-up, live online streaming

Under this year’s theme, “The state of tech-art,” a play on the phrase “state-of-the-art,” MAMA aims to showcase top-notch technological features in addition to Asia’s leading pop music, said Shin Hyong-kwan, a CJ E&M executive overseeing the MAMA production.

“You can expect to see some spectacular stage set-ups, ones that have probably never been seen before in the world,” said Shin.

“We are currently living in an age where technology has become inseparable from pop music,” added producer Kim, who also produced the hit audition program “Superstar K,” on the reason behind the theme’s selection.

This year’s MAMA will also be broadcast live via television in some 150 countries around the world, and also be streamed via online and mobile channels, including on China’s video platform iQIYI.

Four day-long pre-party

In anticipation of the awards ceremony, a four-day pre-festival will take place from Nov. 28-Dec. 1 at Plaza Hollywood, a large-scale shopping mall located on Hong Kong’s Kowloon Peninsula.

On Dec. 1, clubs in the Lan Kwai Fong area will be blaring remixed versions of MAMA nominees’ music.

During the day, over 43 booths will be set up at Plaza Hollywood, featuring beauty, fashion and lifestyle products produced by some 130 Korean small-to-medium enterprises, selected and supported by the Small and Medium Business Administration of Korea, the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency and Korea’s Culture Ministry.

SMBA executive No Yong-seok (CJ E&M)

“We’re hoping that the international enthusiasm for K-pop and hallyu content will lead to the consumption of Korean products,” said No Yong-seok of the SMBA. “We also see MAMA as an opportunity for both small and medium-sized enterprises and large conglomerates to expand overseas.”

Local buyers will be attending the festival and K-pop celebrities will be present at the booths to promote the products, No said.

“Last year, contracts worth a total of 350 million won ($300,000) were signed, and consultations took place on contracts worth over 10 billion won ($8.6 million),” No said. “The marketing effect was also huge, with thousands of consumers being introduced to new products,” he added.

Why Hong Kong?

MAMA, which has taken place in Hong Kong for the past 3 years, has often come under flak among Korean viewers for not hosting the event in Seoul, and thereby depriving the city of potential profits from increased tourism. Other Asian countries have complained that MAMA is not “Asian” enough, focusing on the one location and largely rewarding K-pop stars above artists of other nationalities.

“We considered Hong Kong to be the most accessible location to the many international guests we plan to invite,” said Kim Hyun-soo, department head at CJ E&M. “It’s also the center of Asia’s culture and trade, and has sound infrastructure that can take on big events. We thought the location was apt for MAMA, which aims to grow to be Asia’s leading music festival, to be an Asian version of the Grammys.”

“We’re definitely looking to widen our reach to more Asian regions,” said producer Kim. “That’s one of the reasons why we came up with the new category (for Best Professional), to discover new talent hidden throughout Asia and share their music.”

Glitzy lineup, f(x) to collaborate with Pet Shop Boys

Each year, MAMA is known for being guarded about its lineup, teasing with bits of information and revealing the full list only at the actual ceremony.

This year, it has been confirmed so far that big K-pop names including Big Bang, iKON, Park Jin-young, CNBLUE, BTS, GOT7 and Zion-T will be attending.

Girl group f(x) will also be appearing on stage in collaboration with the London-based electronic pop group Pet Shop Boys, CJ E&M further revealed at Wednesday’s press conference.

“Both are teams known for their high-quality electronic music production,” producer Kim said. “(Pet Shop Boys) expressed an interest in f(x), and f(x) was thrilled to collaborate with such an iconic team.”

For more information, visit www.2015mama.com.

By Rumy Doo (bigbird@heraldcorp.com)