MTV's annual Video Music Awards was supposed to announce its nominees exclusively on Apple Music's Beats 1 radio today. Unfortunately, there seems to be some major technical issues — which is to say, Beats 1 radio is down for a number of listeners, according to Billboard and several others, for both desktop and mobile. As of this writing, US-based members of The Verge are still unable to listen (although our Canadian friends seem to be hearing Jamie xx just fine).
This isn't the first major / inopportune downtime for the streaming radio station. Beats 1 went down for about 30 minutes during its first 24 hours on the air (just after Jaden Smith requested Buffy the Vampire Slayers' theme song — can't blame Nerf Herder for this one).
@Beats1 @MTV WAIT MY ITUNES RADIO THING ISNT WORKING
— Jamie (@JamiePlayzYT) July 21, 2015
Dammit, @Beats1, you're supposed to tell us!
We've reached out to Apple for more information. The full list of VMA nominations can be found at MTV — that's nine for Taylor Swift, five for Beyoncé, and four for Kendrick Lamar (or 13 nominations if you count Swift and Flying Lotus collaborations).
@kendricklamar Congratulations on your #VMA nomination for Video of the Year! pic.twitter.com/4cIEyNBh42
— MTV (@MTV) July 21, 2015