How to Watch the Billboard Music Awards Live?

The Billboard Music Awards is an annual showcase of the year’s biggest and hottest stars in the music industry. Billboard is a publication that specializes in the music industry. It is also a highly esteemed music popularity chart.

The Billboard Music Award event started in the year 1990 and interestingly, it stopped in 2006. It returned with a vengeance in the year 2011 and has been consistent all throughout. This year, 2018, the musical event will be aired live on May 20 on NBC. And guess who will be the host for this year’s Billboard Music Award. It is none other than Kelly Clarkson, the very first American Idol winner.

Music fans out there are surely excited to know who will be given awards. And apart from that, we bet you also can’t wait to see spectacular performances by your favorite artists.

The pressing question for most fans though is this: how to watch the Billboard Music Awards live? Of course there will be replays and short video clips after the show. But nothing beats watching the show live, as it actually happens in MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada.

You read it right. The most awaited awards show will be held again in MGM Grand Garden Arena, after last year’s stint at the T-Mobile Arena.

So back to your question, how to watch the music awards live?

How to Watch Billboard Music Awards Live?

As previously stated, the show will air on NBC. You can follow the publication’s website at Billboard.com for the pre-show, live updates and exclusive photo coverage.

If you are outside the United States, however, you might see a pop up message that says “Media could not be played,” or “The video is not available in your area,” when you try to livestream the awards show on their website. This is because of geo-blocking or geo-restrictions. The show can only be watched from certain countries, and your country is not one of them.

But before you get discouraged, we have a solution for you. You can still watch the 2018 Billboard Music Awards when you use a vpn or a virtual private network. A VPN works by enabling you to connect to a server that is located in a country that can access the awards show, like the United States.

When you subscribe to one of the many VPN services provider, you will be given an IP address that belong in the US. Your real IP address will be hidden, so you will be able to stream the Billboard music awards live. Just choose a VPN provider that has servers in different countries around the globe, such as LimeVPN.

How Different is the Billboard Music Awards?

Of course, there are other popular award-giving bodies in the music industry. There’s the Grammys, and then there’s the MTV Video Music Awards. While all awards are worth watching, and performances in these awards show are absolutely fabulous and breathtaking, the difference lies in the process of selecting the winners.

The Billboard Music Awards finalists are chosen not through a voting process, but by basing on actual album and songs sales. Radio airplay, Touring and social media engagement, and online streaming are also factors in the selection process.

Billboard gathers the necessary data for a particular year with the help of Nielsen Music and Next Big Sound. For 2018, the data collected is from April 8, 2017 to March 31. 2018. It’s interesting to use statistics in selecting the winners, and it does make the Billboard Music Awards trustworthy and more realistic.

What are the Billboard Music Awards Categories?

There are general categories that are divided by music genre. General categories are Top Artist, Top Billboard 200 Album, Top New Artist, and Top Hot 100 Song. Here are the specific awards to be given out for this year.

Top Artist
Top New Artist
Top Male Artist
Top Female Artist
Top Duo/Group
Top Hot 100 Artist
Top Hot 100 Song
Top Billboard 200 Artist
Top Billboard 200 Album
Top Touring Artist
Top Radio Songs Artist
Top Radio Song
Top Song Sales Artist (since 2016)
Top Selling Album (since 2018)
Top Selling Song (since 2016)
Top Streaming Artist
Top Streaming Song (Audio)
Top Streaming Song (Video)
Top Collaboration (since 2017)
Top Rap Artist
Top Rap Male Artist (since 2018)
Top Rap Female Artist (since 2018)
Top Rap Album
Top Rap Song
Top Rap Tour (since 2017)
Top R&B Album
Top R&B Song
Top R&B Tour (2017 – present)
Top R&B Artist
Top R&B Male Artist (since 2018)
Top R&B Female Artist (since 2018)
Top Country Artist
Top Country Male Artist (since 2018)
Top Country Female Artist (since 2018)
Top Country Duo/Group Artist (since 2018)
Top Country Album
Top Country Song
Top Country Tour (since 2017)
Top Rock Artist
Top Rock Album
Top Rock Song
Top Rock Tour (since 2017)
Top Latin Artist
Top Latin Album
Top Latin Song
Top Dance/Electronic Artist (since 2014)
Top Dance/Electronic Album (since 2014)
Top Dance/Electronic Song (since 2014)
Top Christian Artist
Top Christian Album
Top Christian Song
Top Gospel Artist (since 2016)
Top Gospel Album (since 2016)
Top Gospel Song (since 2016)
Top Soundtrack (1993, 1998, 2000, 2006, 2015 – present)

There are also a couple of awards that are based on the number of votes made by fans. These are the Top Social Artist and the Billboard Chart Achievement. Except these two, the rest of the awards are based on actual reported data by Billboard’s data partners.

The Bottom line

We surely hope your favorite music artists and favorite songs are awarded with any of the Billboard awards listed above for this year. We also know that you are so excited to watch the outstanding performances live.

The Billboard Music Awards is only a few weeks away, so make sure you can watch it live online. Subscribe to a virtual private network or vpn service provider now. A VPN can give you access not only to the Billboard Music Awards show, but also to other movies, shows, and videos that are otherwise blocked in your country.

You only need to make sure that the VPN provider you choose is fast, reliable, and secured. LimeVPN, for example, uses military graded encryption. Data and privacy leaks are therefore prevented, so you will surely feel secured and protected.

Watch the Billboard Music Awards live with LimeVPN.