Liverpool is to host the 2008 MTV Europe Music Awards

This extremely high-profile event will project the image of Liverpool across the world and it will be broadcast live across all platforms on 6 November 2008.

Bryan Gray, the Chairman of Liverpool Culture Company stated: “There was huge competition to stage these awards so this is a major coup for Liverpool, the new Echo Arena and our European Capital of Culture celebrations. This event and the plans we have in place to celebrate them will provide a huge international platform for the city, the arena and the music scene in Liverpool today” he added.

Liverpool Culture Company

The Europe Music Awards attracts the biggest and loudest names in the industry.

Last year, the line-up for the 2007 EMAs - hosted by Snoop Dog in Munich - included Foo Fighters, My Chemical Romance, Mika and Avril Lavigne.

And they joined a pantheon of some of the greatest artists who have performed at the EMAs since its inception - Justin Timberlake, Nelly Furtado, P Diddy, Madonna, U2, Christina Aguilera, Aerosmith, Green Day, Coldplay and Robbie Williams to name but some.

Created with the single aim of honouring the music, as well as established and up-and-coming artists that Europeans love, MTV awards ceremony takes place in a different European city every year.

This event and the plans we have in place to celebrate them will provide a huge international platform for the city, the arena and the music scene in Liverpool today

Bryan Gray

Chairman

Liverpool Culture Company

This will be the third time that the UK has hosted the awards. Previously, the event has been held in London (1996) and Edinburgh (2003).

MTV senior vice-president Richard Godfrey said: “It is fantastic to be back in the UK and it is only natural that Liverpool should host the 15th annual Europe Music Awards. Not only is it the European Capital of Culture but the influence of its rich music heritage is still felt today. The state-of-the-art Echo Arena Liverpool is the perfect venue for such a large-scale multi-platform event as the awards and will give us the opportunity to bring newer and more exciting elements to the show.”

Echo Arena Liverpool

The EMAs are to be held at the state-of-the-art Echo Arena Liverpool, a 10,600-seat venue recently opened. The new concert and event facility is located on the city’s attractive riverfront and boasts of being one of the most environmentally friendly venues of its kind in Europe.

The impressive architectural design also has an adjoining 1,350-seat convention centre and 7,000 square metres of exhibition space.

“With its stunning back catalogue of musicians and current crop of chart toppers, Liverpool is a creative force in the world music industry,” said James Purnell, Secretary of State of the Department of Culture, Media & Sport.

“It’s fantastic that MTV has chosen Liverpool to host the 2008 Europe Music Awards - this will make the European Capital of Culture year even more special” he continued.

With its stunning back catalogue of musicians and current crop of chart toppers, Liverpool is a creative force in the world music industry

James Purnell

Secretary of State of the Department of Culture, Media & Sport

The Liverpool bid to host the 2008 awards was led by the Liverpool Culture Company and the Echo Arena with support from the North West Regional Development Agency (NWDA).

Peter Mearns, NWDA’s Executive Director of Marketing and Communications, said the event is “extremely high-profile and will project the image of Liverpool across the world”.

Sponsorship

Fashion brand edc by Esprit is sponsoring the awards and Thomas Grote, President of Esprit Brand said: “edc’s style is strongly influenced by the current music scene and its looks. The UK is a key market for our global expansion plans, so sponsoring the EMAs in 2008 in Liverpool will give us many opportunities of non-traditional ways of brand communication and will certainly support a strong brand image for edc.”

Esprit operates 640,600 directly managed retail stores worldwide in more than 40 countries.

In 2007 the Awards were broadcast to a potential worldwide audience of 1.5 billion people in 100 countries including a live broadcast across Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

In addition to its 56 TV channels globally, MTV has 47 websites, 19 broadband services and 17 mobile TV channels and mobile video-on-demand services, including distribution to most of the world’s video-enabled mobile handsets.

MTV Networks’ brands are seen globally in 508 million households in 160 countries and 32 languages via 142 locally programmed and operated TV channels and more than 300 digital media properties.

The Liverpool Culture Company was established by Liverpool City Council in 2000 to lead the city’s bid to be the UK’s nomination as European Capital of Culture in 2008. Competing against 12 cities, Liverpool won the nomination in 2003.

The Liverpool Culture Company has coordinated more than 300 events and festivals for 2008.