MAMA was launched in 1999 as “Mnet Music Video Festival” and then was renamed “Mnet KM Music Video Festival” in 2004 and “Mnet KM Music Festival” in 2006. It was given the name “Mnet ASIAN MUSIC AWARDS” in 2009, announcing the birth of a new K-POP music awards ceremony. After 2010, MAMA was held in Macau, Singapore, and Hong Kong and truly became a global awards ceremony. It was also the first-ever K-POP awards event to showcase MAMA Week, held simultaneously at three locations across Asia: Vietnam, Japan, and Hong Kong in 2017 and Korea, Japan, and Hong Kong in 2018. In 2019, MAMA was joined by more than 40,000 fans, and last year, it was held as a metaverse awards ceremony that overcame the limitations of space, thereby establishing itself as a major global music awards representing K-POP.
Over the past 22 years, MAMA has highlighted the potential of K-POP by showcasing the values of diversity and novelty that challenges prejudice and offered a world in which “MUSIC MAKES ONE” to music fans around the world! MAMA is now leading K-POP’s greater tomorrow and will take another step forward as “the World’s No. 1 K-POP Music Awards”.