The EM Awards expand on global platforms and highlight equal representation in 2018

Following its highly successful 2017 debut, the second edition of The Electronic Music Awards (EM Awards) returns to Los Angeles’ Downtown Arts District this year on November 8.

Operating under the slogan “We're All The Same On The Dance Floor”, the awards show will honor the artists and creatives who have excelled across the global electronic music scene in 13 categories, including Album of the Year, DJ of the Year, Single of the Year, Record of the Year, Live Act of the Year, Best New Artist, Club of the Year and more. (See a full list of last year’s winners here.)

“We try to get everybody involved in a sense that reflects the whole community,” says co-founder and executive producer Luke Alan, giving an exclusive scoop on operations behind-the-scenes. As Paul Oakenfold’s manager, Alan teamed up with the renowned DJ to create the unorthodox awards show to celebrate all aspects of the genre. “We try our hardest to make the show available to an international audience, since we're just so big as a global genre."

This year, the show will be hosted not only on Twitter as it was previously, but also on Facebook, YouTube and PlayStation to reach domestic and global audiences. In an effort to give viewers and attendees the "full awards show experience," the event will feature a centralized awards area where the winners will be announced throughout the night. "There's still no real sitting down, and there's still no getting up and doing acceptance speeches, but there [will be an] on-site reveal for each award which can also be streamed online.”

In 2018, the EM Awards are hoping to shed some light on the voting committee as well, which consists of label heads, major festival promoters, artists and other music industry leaders - all of whom have been chosen by Paul Oakenfold and The EM Awards team.

“The people chosen for this role have been in the scene for a long time and done great things for the community,” Alan explains. “We also have younger committee members too. It's important that we ensure that the younger generation is well represented.” The nominees for each category have yet to be chosen.

Additionally, the Electronic Music Awards will make an effort to extend out a bring other electronic music genres into the fold, such as drum ‘n’ bass and jungle. After having an admittedly “small” amount of female representation at last year’s exhibition, The EM Awards is determined to make sure that this year's edition is teeming with female talent.

“We need to have strong female representation because they're completely dominating the scene: everyone from Rezz to Peggy Gou to Black Madonna to Honey Dijon and Alison Wonderland (who won Best New Artist at last year’s EM Awards). It's important to us that we get them to this show. We’re currently working really hard to do that."

Stay tuned for more details about The EM Awards. Watch the official announcement video and Orbital's live performance from last year's event below.

Cameron is Mixmag's Jr. Editor. Follow him on Twitter here