The premier YouTube Music Awards, which aired last night live from New York City, in no way lacked star power (Lady Gaga, Eminem, Arcade Fire) and unpredictability (some award envelopes were pulled from cakes situated across the stage). Unfortunately, it also lacked viewership (250,000) and any real sense of production quality.
Reviewers of the show have noted that it felt chaotic and disconnected throughout, with Time Magazine even going as far as to say it had a "low-budget feel," as evidenced by guests sometimes obstructing camera angles.
"That's not to say that lots of thought wasn't put into the YTMA, just that the chaos of the Internet, if unchanneled, is just that: chaos," Los Angeles Times writer Jessica Gelt said.
Time points out that this rugged, unstructured feel is likely a callback to the earliest days of YouTube, when poorly produced, viral home videos were the primary driver of traffic to the site. That was before Google purchased YouTube and the site's videos became splashed with advertisements.
"It was very nerve-wracking just because there were so many things that had to be right from so many people, like a giant jigsaw puzzle," performer Lindsey Stirling told USA Today. "In between my takes, I had to run from one side of the stage to the other while playing."
While the awards show likely did use professional video equipment, those who planned the event could have focused more of their attention on bringing all of the pieces together.