Apple Music Awards vs. Spotify Awards: Here's How They're Different

Apple is following Spotify's lead as the company launches its first music awards this year. The Apple Music Awards will be a "celebration of the best and boldest musicians of 2019 and the enormous impact they have had on global culture this year."

Apple announced on their site that the awards function will be taking place at the Steve Jobs Theater at Apple Park this Wednesday, Dec. 4. For those who aren’t in the area, it will be live streamed on Apple Music at 9:30 p.m. EST / 6:30 p.m. PST. Five awards will be given out in the evening for Apple’s inaugural function. The physical awards that are being given out will be “built from the same laser-cut silicon wafers that power Apple's microprocessors,” according to Apple Music.

Singer Billie Eilish, who’ll be the recipient for Artist of the Year, will headline the show. Other winners listed include Lizzo and Lil Nas X, who take home Breakthrough Artist of the Year and Song of the Year, respectively. Only Album of the Year and Song of the Year will be decided by streaming data from the platform while Apple Music’s editorial team will pick the rest of the awards.

Spotify previously announced their own awards show last week, which will happen in Mexico City on Mar. 5, 2020. Unlike Apple’s partially generated data being used to determine the winners, Spotify will be utilizing streaming data for all of its awards. The winners will be determined by the most streams, so this will be the user-friendliest awards made for the fans. The awards ceremony has picked Mexico as their location since it’s where Spotify first started, and it also is the streaming capital of the world.

"Your plays, patterns, and habits will help determine the award categories, finalists, and winners," the site said. "You can get excited for an awards ceremony that actually speaks to what the people are streaming."