But wait! What exactly is the Soribada Best K-Music Awards? If you’re still confused and want to know more details regarding these annual events, then this is the right article for you! Scroll down to find out more!  

Introduction to the Soribada Best K-Music Awards

To know more about the Soribada Best K-Music Awards we have to know first about what Soribada is. Often dubbed as a Napster clone, Soribada (Korean: 소리바다) was first intended to be the first Korean peer-to-peer file-sharing site, and was founded by the guy named Sean Yang in 2000. The name itself holds a dear meaning, as it can be translated into the phrases ‘Ocean of Sound’ or ‘Receiving Sound.’ By this analogy, it practically means the site for downloading sound. The site has had a rocky journey, as it was held accountable for illegal distribution by court order in 2002 and was forced to close. But, as often happens with most internet content, the site kept running with a stipulation that any files downloaded are the responsibility of its individual users. Finally, the site opened again on November 5, 2003. A year after, in July 2004, the site took a turn by re-introducing itself as a P2P search portal. A paid MP3 service was only available in December 2004. Throughout the years, the site gained more of a following, and is considered as the most widely used P2P system in Korea. Then….17 years after the site began, Soribada launched its first-ever Soribada Best K-Music Awards, which is a music award show intended to celebrate the best in K-pop music, on September 20, 2017. The first award show was meant to award the music releases between September 2016 and August 2017 (one-year duration). Since then, the Soribada Best K-Music Awards has become an annual celebration for K-pop music, running for almost four years now. It has become a yearly event where we get to watch our favorite idols/singers receiving their rewards and performing on the grand stage. The Soribada Best K-Music Awards has various categories of winners, such as Daesang (main winner), Best Artist of the Year, New Artist of the Year, Popularity Award, Best Trot, Best OST, Best Hip-hop, Best R&B, Music Video Award, Music Producer, Special Award, Performance Award, and others.  

Voting System

The Soribada Best K-Music Awards use a combination of the site’s internal data, online mobile votes, and ratings from professional adjudicators and critics to decide the criteria. It will heavily reward Korea’s best performances and releases based on internal data on the Soribada website. In addition, it also uses online voting that can be followed by fans all over the world, plus the assessment of the judges consisting of critics and professionals in their fields. Every year, the Soribada crew will release information regarding the voting date for domestic and international fans. Usually, the voting took place on their website The Soribada Best K-Music Awards 2019 also stated that they would try their best to use the principle of justice as the top priority in determining the winners.  

List of Venues for the Event

So far, the ceremony has been running for three years since its first launch in 2017. All the ceremonies so far have taken place in Seoul, South Korea.

The first Soribada Best K-Music Awards 2017 was held on September 20, 2017, at the Jamsil Students Gymnasium. The second Soribada Best K-Music Awards 2018 was held on August 30, 2018, at the Olympic Gymnastics Arena. The third Soribada Best K-Music Awards 2019 was held for two days straight on August 22–23, 2019, also at the Olympic Gymnastics Arena.

There hasn’t been any announcement made regarding the date and venue for the Soribada Best K-Music Awards 2020.  

Event Rundown

The Soribada Best K-Music Awards usually has three segments: an opening ceremony, the awards show proper, and the closing ceremony. If the show is running for two days, the closing ceremony will take place on the second day. In between those main elements, there are also various performances from the guest stars. Korean actors and actresses tintroduce the nominations for each category.  

Award Categories

Soribada Best K-Music Awards has various categories of winners. Here are some award categories the event uses:  

Grand Prize (Daesang) Main Prize (Bonsang) Rookie Award Popularity Award Trot Grand Award Trot Artist Award Hip Hop Artist Award R&B Artist Award Rock Band Award Best OST Award Music Video Award Producer Award Best Hip Hop Maker Award New K-Wave Artist Award Performance Award Rising Hot Star Award The New Icon Award Voice Award Music Star Award Next Artist Award Global Entertainer Award Social Artist Award Photogenic Award (2017) Global Career Achievement Award (2017) Trend Queen Award (2018) People’s Choice Award (2018) New Wave Award (2019) Art-tainer Award (2019) Global Hot Trend Award (2019)

 

List of Winners Through Time

Here is the list of Soribada Best K-Music Awards’ winners from time to time:  

Soribada Best K-Music Awards 2017

Bonsang: GFRIEND, B.A.P, MAMAMOO, T-ara, BTOB, TWICE, Hwang Chi-yeol, MONSTA X, Red Velvet, VIXX, EXO New Korean Wave Producer Award: Iggy Yongbae New Korean Wave Music Video Award: Zanybros New Korean Wave Music Star Award: SONAMOO and KNK New Korean Wave OST Award: Ailee – “I Will Go to You Like the First Snow” (OST Goblin) New Korean Wave Rookie Award: Wanna One and PENTAGON New Korean Wave Popularity Award: EXO New Korean Wave Icon Award: Red Velvet New Korean Wave Trot Award: Tae Jin-ah, Hong Jin-young New Korean Wave Global Career Achievement Award: Eru New Korean Wave Photogenic Award: DIA New Korean Wave Rising Hot Star Award: Cosmic Girls and Wanna One New Korean Wave Voice Award: Han Dong-geun New Korean Wave Performance Award: NCT 127 and Gugudan New Korean Wave Artist Award: BTS Digital Daesang: TWICE Daesang: EXO

 

Soribada Best K-Music Awards 2018

Bonsang: Wanna One, MAMAMOO, NCT 127, Bolbbalgan4, TWICE, NU’EST W, MOMOLAND, MONSTA X, AOA, Red Velvet,  and BTS Producer Award: Kim Do-hoon Music Video Director Award: Hong Won-ki Rookie Award: The Boyz, Stray Kids, NATURE, IZ Trot Rookie Award: Kangnam, Seol Ha-yoon Performance Award: Samuel, DIA Trot Star Award: Tae Jin-ah, Hong Jin-young Voice Award: Wheesung, GB9 (Gilgu Bonggu) Social Voice Award: Seo J Hip-Hop Artist Award: WINNER’s Song Mino Queen of Trend Award: Seo In-young Icon Award: NU’EST W Rising Hot Star Award: Hyeongseop x Euiwoong, YDPP R&B Artist Award: Crush Music Star Award: Chungha, UNB Overseas Entertainer Award: 7SENSES Artist Award: Red Velvet, MONSTA X Netizen Popularity Award: EXO Best OST Award: Jeong Se-woon – “It’s You” (OST What’s Wrong with Secretary Kim) Female Artist Popularity Award: MAMAMOO Male Artist Popularity Award: Wanna One World Social Artist Award: BTS Digital Daesang: TWICE Daesang: BTS

 

Soribada Best K-Music Awards 2019

Day 1

Bonsang: Chungha, HOTSHOT’s Ha Sung-woon, MOMOLAND, MAMAMOO, TWICE, MONSTA X Rookie Award: ITZY Rising Hot Star Award: N.Flying, Stray Kids Voice Award: 2AM’s Changmin, Jeong Sewoon Music Star Award: CLC Social Artist Award: MAMAMOO’s Hwasa Trot Award: Jin-sung, Hong Jin-young Best Trot Award: Tae Jin-ah Performance Award: LOONA, ATEEZ New Korean Wave Icon Award: Oh My Girl New Korean Wave Artist Award: WJSN Popularity Award (Female): TWICE Art-tainer Award: INFINITE’s Nam Woohyun, Weki Meki New Wave Award: MONSTA X Global Entertainer Award: ZERO 9 R&B Artist Award: Park Bom Live Performance of the Year Award: MAMAMOO Music of the Year Award: TWICE

  Day 2

Bonsang: AB6IX, Kim Jae-swan, Park Ji-hoon, NCT 127, Red Velvet, BTS New Korean Wave Icon Award: Park Ji-hoon Rising Hot Star Award: The Boyz R&B Artist Award: Yang Da-il Trot Rookie Award: Kim Soo-chan, Hongja, Jeong Mi-ae, Song Ga-in Popularity Award (Male): BTS Soribada New Wave Award: (G)I-DLE Rock Band Award: YB Global Entertainer Award: SNH48 Global Hot Trend Award: ASTRO Social Voice Award: Lee Woo Next Artist Award: A.C.E, Newkidd, ONEUS Social Artist Award: NCT 127 New Korean Wave Artist Award: Lovelyz Music Star Award: NATURE Rookie Award: TXT Best Hip Hop Maker Award: Dress, Groovy Room Producer Award: Rhymer Artist of the Year: BTS Stage of the Year: Red Velvet

 

Event Trivia

BTS and Twice each won the most awards from Soribada Best K-Music Awards with a total of seven trophies each, while Red Velvet is in second place with six trophies, and Monsta X and Mamamoo sit in third place with five trophies. In February 2016, the Yang brothers (Junghwan and Ilhwan) sold their shares in Soribada to the Shanghai-based investment, trade, and e-commerce company ISPC International Limited, so for a brief of time Soribada was owned by a Chinese company. Then, in April 2016,  The Yang brothers came back as minority investors of Soribada. Both the Soribada Best K-Music Awards 2018 and 2019 took place in Olympic Gymnastics Arena. Soribada is the first Korean-founded peer-to-peer file-sharing service.

 

Memorable Moments

We have included a few memorable moments from the Soribada Best K-Music Awards. Check out the moments below!

The whole speech for BTS’s Daesang awards and their encore stage! These are gold!

Peeking at the backstage moments of BTS and Twice. They are so cute and happy!

Red Velvet’s first Daesang at the Soribada Best K-Music Awards! They gave a huge thank you to the fans who have supported them. We’re so touched hikseu~   So, those are all details that you need to know regarding the Soribada Best K-Music Awards. Do you have any thoughts on this show? Share with us in the comment box below!

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