Recap: The 2013 YouTube Music Awards

New York’s Pier 36 played host to the inaugural YouTube Music Awards last night; an event set up to appreciate and reward the best of the web over the past 12 months.

The ceremony, sponsored by car manufacturer Kia Motors, was streamed live globally on YouTube, and also featured performances from pre-show parties from around the world, including Rio, Seoul, Moscow and of course London. Eminem, Lady Gaga and M.I.A. were amongst the performances of the evening, with the former scooping the award for Artist of the Year.

Co-hosted by actor Jason Schwartzman and performance artist/comedian Reggie Watts, the event sought to differentiate itself from other award ceremonies. With irreverence on high agenda, it was only after the show that Schwartzman declared “There were no lines and nothing scripted and we had no idea what was going to happen next,”

What were your thoughts on the ceremony? Were you impressed or do you feel there should have been more in the way of scripts, rehearsals [as has been pointed out a fair amount on Twitter]?

Anyhow, check out the winners as well as a few of the performances, below:

Video of the year: Girls’ Generation – I Got A Boy
Artist of the year: Eminem
Response of the year: Lindsey Stirling and Pentatonix – Radioactive
YouTube phenomenon: I Knew You Were Trouble
YouTube breakthrough: Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
Innovation of the year: DeStorm – See Me Standing

Lady Gaga – Dope

Eminem – Rap God

Connor Maynard – R U Crazy

Foxes – Youth

Tinie Tempah – Trampoline