YG Entertainment artists will not be taking part in the KBS year-end music festival. According to music broadcast representatives on December 20th, 2NE1, Se7en, Taeyang, and Big Bang's unit group GD&TOP, will only participate in the "SBS Gayo Daejun" and the "MBC Music Festival", held on December 29th and 31st respectively. A representative stated, "YG and KBS have differences in opinions regarding KBS broadcasting an award during the live festival. Thus, YG has decided to not let their label artists to participate in the program for this year." In truth, this year is not the first time KBS will be giving out a 'Popular Song Award' at their music festival. Last year, KBS asked viewers to vote for the artist who most deserved the 'Popular Song Award', which was given to 2PM for their track, 'Again and Again'. If this doesn't really sound like much of a big deal, then here's the backstory: around 5 years ago, all three broadcasting companies decided to change their year-end award ceremonies to just plain music festivals. Last year, KBS had received vast criticism for suddenly creating a 'Popular Song Award' for their Music Festival. In their defence, KBS has voiced out that their 'Popular Song Award' is not indicative of plans to resurrect an awards ceremony. "Just like last year, we will not be holding a music awards ceremony this year. We are merely just choosing the most popular song of the year. We are aware of the criticism about us resurrecting an awards ceremony, but we are taking fairness in consideration, and will not be holding an awards show this year," explained a representative of the KBS Music Festival. The 'Popular Song Award' is solely based on viewers' votes. Source: Star News