VH1 AND SPOTIFY PARTNER TO CROWN "YOU OUGHTA KNOW ARTIST OF THE YEAR" AT 2ND ANNUAL "YOU OUGHTA KNOW LIVE IN CONCERT" EVENT ON THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 13 AT 9 PM ET/PT ON VH1

Fans to Vote for "You Oughta Know Artist of the Year" via Spotify Plays + Twitter

2014 Class of "You Oughta Know" Includes: A Great Big World, Aloe Blacc, American Authors, Bleachers, CHVRCHES, Echosmith, KONGOS, Mary Lambert, Tove Lo, Vance Joy, and Sam Smith

NEW YORK, NY (October 21, 2014) - VH1 and Spotify are partnering to crown the "You Oughta Know Artist of the Year" from the 2014 Class of "You Oughta Know" artists at the second annual "VH1 You Oughta Know Live in Concert" live from New York City's Hammerstein Ballroom on Thursday, November 13 at 9 PM ET. Starting today, fans will begin voting for their favorite artist from the 2014 Class of "You Oughta Know" artists simply by listening to their music directly on Spotify. Each Spotify play will count as one vote, so the more fans listen, the more they vote. Spotify will keep the tally of all the plays until November 13th, when the "You Oughta Know Artist of the Year" will be crowned during the live telecast event.

The day of the live show, Thursday, November 13th, VH1 and Spotify will announce the top 3 artists via VH1's social accounts and at YOKConcert.VH1.com. Fans will continue voting via Spotify and the Twitter hashtag formula #ArtistNameYOK to help select the "You Oughta Know Artist of the Year," who will be announced in the live show.

Since its launch in 2005, VH1's "You Oughta Know" franchise has introduced promising new artists on the rise and serves as a barometer for what and who's hot in music today. The 2014 class of "You Oughta Know" artists taking the Hammerstein stage live include: A Great Big World, Aloe Blacc, American Authors, Bleachers, CHVRCHES, Echosmith, KONGOS, Mary Lambert, Tove Lo, Vance Joy, and Sam Smith. The live concert will be hosted by Nicole Richie, whose critically acclaimed "Candidly Nicole" was picked up for a second season by VH1 and will return in 2015.

The VH1 "You Oughta Know" franchise has helped jumpstart and break the careers of some of music's biggest names including: Lorde, Ed Sheeran, Adele, Mumford & Sons, Gotye and Sia and many, many more. In addition to selling millions of records and going platinum many times over, VH1 "You Oughta Know" alums go on to win not just Grammys, but Golden Globes and even Academy Awards. Lorde, a 2013 "You Oughta Know" artist, went on to sweep the music awards season racking up two Grammy Awards, two Billboard Music Awards, three World Music Awards, and an MTV VMA moon man.

For more information about the show, visit YOKConcert.VH1.com, "Like" VH1 on Facebook and follow @VH1 on Twitter and use the hashtag #YOKConcert to talk about the show. For fans in the NYC area, tickets will be available at 1iota.com.

VH1 "You Oughta Know Live in Concert" is executive produced by Michael Dempsey for Dempsey Productions and Lee Rolontz and Sandy Alouete for VH1. Lara Fried is producing for VH1.

About VH1

VH1 delivers the ultimate mash-up of music, pop culture and nostalgia for adults who still want to have fun. VH1 is available in 99 million households in the U.S. VH1 also has an array of digital channels and services including VH1 Classic, VH1 Soul, the VH1 App, VH1.com and @VH1, the hub for all things music and pop culture. Fans may also access current and retro VH1 programming via the VH1 App, the network's three-in-one video, new form content and co-viewing app, available for free on iOS and Android platforms. VH1 is a unit of Viacom Inc. (NASDAQ: VIA, VIAB), one of the world's leading creators of programming and content across all media platforms.

About Spotify

Spotify is an award-winning digital music service that gives you on-demand access to over 20 million tracks. Our dream is to make all the world's music available instantly to everyone, wherever and whenever you want it. Spotify makes it easier than ever to discover, manage and share music with your friends, while making sure that artists get a fair deal.

Spotify is now available in 58 markets globally with more than 40 million active users, and over 10 million paying subscribers.

Since its launch in Sweden in 2008, Spotify has driven more than US$1bn to rights holders. Spotify is now the second biggest source of digital music revenue for labels in Europe, and the biggest and most successful music streaming service of its kind globally.

* Number of tracks licensed globally. Catalogue size varies per market and can also change over time.

www.spotify.com

+++

*All times ET/PT