World Electronic Music Awards to Air From Las Vegas Next Year

A new awards show is bringing dance/electronic music to prime time. On Thursday (Oct. 27), The CW Network announced it will air the World Electronic Music Awards this May 27.

The show will be taped on May 18 in Las Vegas as part of the run-up to the annual dance music mega-festival Electric Daisy Carnival. The festival takes place at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway May 19-21. It’s not yet clear if the festival’s producer, Insomniac Events, will have a hand in the awards show.

The two-hour prime-time event plans to award electronic music greats from around the globe and will feature the first Electronic Music Hall of Fame inductions. Producers note that the major awards categories are European, Asian, North American and World Artist of the Year. Performers and hosts for the show will be announced in the coming months.

“We are so excited to be working with The CW on the World Electronic Music Awards broadcast,” says the show’s creator and executive producer Andy Ruffell. “We are introducing a new format for the show, including regional and world awards, plus Hall of Fame honors with EDM superstars accepting. We are also working with The CW digital team on global livestream, Metaverse and Web3 components. We will be announcing some big music industry partners shortly.”

While the Grammys include two dance/electronic categories — best dance/electronic album and best dance/electronic recording — the awards have never put these categories on the telecast, instead including the genre in the livestreamed Premiere Ceremony. Other awards shows, including the Billboard Music Awards, also include dance/electronic categories; however, the World Electronic Music Awards is the first prime-time awards show in the United States devoted entirely to the genre.