The Coronavirus pandemic in Korea has claimed its first award show victim, forcing the Melon Music Awards (MMA) to take a year break from holding an award ceremony.
According to an exclusive report from Ilgan Sports, the Melon Music Awards, which are usually held between late November and early December every year since 2009, has decided to take a rest year due to the aftermath of the Coronavirus. Due to the social distancing requirements the government has implemented with level 2.5 as well as the high chance of variability that comes with the Coronavirus, Melon decided to not hold the ceremony. This will be the first music award show to be cancelled by the Coronavirus, as the 2020 Soribada Best Music Awards were held with no audience and social distancing.
Since July, the decision was made to not have the MMA this year.
In order to hold the ceremony in the time frame that MMA does, there should have already been inquiries sent out, such as schedule requests, but none have been made at all. Instead of doing an online only version, it was decided that there should just be a break this year.
— Insiders
The Melon Music Awards is an awards ceremony that uses Korea’s most popular music streaming service, Melon, combined with fan votes and expert opinion, to reveal awards. Although there will be no ceremony, there are currently internal discussions within Melon on whether or not they should announce the winners that would have been awarded at the ceremony.
However, Kakao M, the parent company of Melon, has stated that there will be an awards ceremony, but the format has not been decided.
MMA will be held this year as well.
We are considering an outside venue with various methods, and the timing and method will be released after it is confirmed.
— Kakao M
