More than 500 well-known music artists will come together for the Cambodia Pleng Music Awards 2023, which takes place next month.

The concert and awards ceremony will take place on March 18 in Borey Peng Huot Grand Star Platinum’s Grand Hall and Ballroom.

It is being organised by Smart Mobile’s music streaming service Pleng with the aim of supporting and encouraging the achievements of the singers, songwriters, musicians and music producers in Cambodia, many of whom have music available to listen to via the Pleng app.

Mila Jivkova Kusheva, chief marketing officer at Smart Axiata, expressed her pleasure at getting to organise this music event to celebrate the creativity of the Kingdom’s musicians while also entertaining their fans with live performances.

“The company has always been impressed by the spirit, heart, artistry and commitment to preserving the heritage and culture of Cambodia by these artists, many of whom we have worked with in the past,” she said.

“The purpose of the Pleng Music Awards is to promote a spirit of unity to support Cambodian art, as well as to recognise the achievements of this year’s most outstanding Cambodian artists,” she added.

The Pleng Music Awards 2023 begins with a Hollywood-style red carpet walk as the celebrity performers arrive at the venue. Throughout the evening, there will be live performances by renowned musical artists, both from the new generation and veteran performers, along with appearances by well-known public figures there to celebrate and recognise the work of artists and producers in the music industry.

According to the organisers of the music awards ceremony, the 10 award winners will be determined by a formula that weights the popular vote at the equivalent of 40 per cent of the total score, votes from experts within the music industry as another 40 per cent of the score and the total number of streams the artists have for their songs on the Pleng mobile app providing the final 20 per cent of the scoring.

Fans can start voting for their favourite artists and songs in the Pleng mobile app for free from February 23 to March 8.

At last year’s awards, the first ever held, singer Tep Boprek – who just recently gave birth – won three awards as did Galaxy Productions singer Ton Chanseima, while male singer “Sweet Voice” Souly Pheng won two awards.

Several other artists took home solo awards while Preap Sovath, also currently signed to Galaxy Productions, received the “Lifetime Achievement Award”.