It's been four years since the MTV Video Music Awards were last in New York—it was in 2009 at Radio City Music Hall that Kanye West infamously interrupted Taylor Swift's acceptance speech—and the music television network has plenty of festivities planned to keep viewers buzzing and, hopefully, tuned in for the live broadcast from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn on Sunday, August 25.
Already MTV has utilized Twitter, Instagram, and Vine for its #RoadtotheVMAs campaign that saw nominees announced via short video clips. Last week the Viacom-owned channel said the campaign has garnered around 100 million social media impressions, including more than 500,000 likes on Instagram, 48.5 million impressions on Twitter, nearly 40 million impressions on Facebook, and more than one million impressions on Tumblr.
Starting tonight, MTV is hoping to drum up even more excitement for the Sunday-night show with the first of the free "V.M.A.-themed" concerts. The network and Pop Tarts will present a "Crazy Good V.M.A. Concert" event at the Music Hall of Williamsburg, which will include performances by Hot Chelle Rae, Fifth Harmony, and Darling Parade. The Williamsburg performance space will also play host to the Windows Phone-sponsored "V.M.A. Song of the Summer" celebration with Jason Derulo and Timeflies on Wednesday and Thursday night's "Easy, Breezy Brooklyn" event presented by CoverGirl. On Saturday, the network and Taco Bell will take over Webster Hall with the Neighbourhood, New Politics, and Wildcat Wildcat. And perhaps the biggest is Friday's bash, a benefit for Lifebeat: Music Fights HIV/AIDS, which will see Robin Thicke headline at Terminal 5.
It doesn't stop there: an hour-long preshow will take place outside the Barclays Center on Sunday with State Farm-sponsored performances by Austin Mahone and Ariana Grande. DJ duo Nervo will spin on the carpet, while MTV News reporters Sway Calloway, Christina Garibaldi, and James Montgomery interview guests with questions submitted by fans using the hashtag #AskVMA on Twitter, Vine, and Instagram.
Beyond MTV, other brands are heading to Brooklyn and Manhattan for the V.M.A.s. Cash Money Records, which has previously held lavish affairs around the award show, is planning a fete at Skylight One Hanson immediately following the telecast. And although the event is, by and large, invite-only, the proceeds from the sale of a limited number of tickets available to the public will go to the American Diabetes Association of Greater New York. Also in town are Perez Hilton, whose One Night in Brooklyn event on Saturday will benefit VH1 Save the Music Foundation and the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (Glsen), and In Touch Weekly with its "Icons & Idols" party. Hilton's bash will hit the Music Hall of Williamsburg, while In Touch will hold court at Lower East Side nightclub Finale.
![For the after-party, Event Eleven built three 30-foot pagodas and hung 300 lanterns from the ceiling. They also brought in a 20-foot-tall bonsai tree and a variety of 30-foot red maples, along with other greenery and foliage. '[It all] helped create the organic atmosphere and helped transport guests into a gardenlike room,' said Schubert.](https://img.bizbash.com/files/base/bizbash/bzb/image/2024/02/Shogun.41_f.65dba8f23433b.png?auto=format%2Ccompress&dpr=2&fit=crop&h=167&q=70&w=250)
