When Can You Vote For The 2015 MTV VMAs?

The MTV Video Music Awards is one of the biggest shows of the season. Not only do the most talented musicians walk the red carpet, but winning a moonman is considered to be a pretty big honor. While the 2015 VMAs performers list is still developing, we can clarify the 2015 VMAs voting rules and reported eligibility period.

The Voting Rules

According to the official 2015 MTV Video Music Awards Voting guidelines, for most of the awards, fans could vote for their favorites starting "at or around 11:00:00 AM ET time on July 21, 2015" and "ending at or around 6:00:00 PM ET time on August 13, 2015." However, in the case of the Artist to Watch honor, the voting period is July 21, 2015 through August 30, 2015. For the Best Song of Summer award, fans used designated hashtags to vote on Twitter and Instagram from August 18, 2015 to August 30, 2015.

That brings us to who can vote. In the majority of the categories, it's up to the public to decide who wins the VMAs. (More on that below.) However six "professional" categories are chosen by a mystery committee. These awards are for Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Choreography, Best Direction, Best Art Direction, and Best Visual Effects. The mystery voters for those categories are unidentified industry professionals.

Okay, now for the categories where the public can vote. There's no doubt that music fans are enthusiastic, especially when it comes to voting for their favorite artists to win awards. However, there are limitations to the voting. According to the guidelines, fans can vote up to 10 times per day for the "Artist To Watch and All Other Categories." However, for the Best Song Of The Summer category, music lovers can vote up to 12 times per day.

The Eligibility Rules

Pitchfork reports that the MTV VMA voting extends from July to June each year. The biggest news story surrounding this year's eligibility rules was when Katy Perry addressed that Rihanna's "B**ch Better Have My Money" video dropped on July 1, the last day of what she cites as the eligibility period. "The real travesty is where is the shine for #BBHMMVideo when VMA eligibility period was 7/7/14-7/1/15 & that gem dropped 7/1..." Perry tweeted. Rihanna managed to squeak in one of the most talked-about videos of the year just in time for the awards, but it didn't get nominated. (Although Rihanna's "American Oxygen" video did get a nod for its social message.)

Additionally, there isn't a lot on information available about how the MTV VMAs nominees are chosen. It's all a bit of a mystery, but at least soon we will know one thing: The 2015 winners. You can catch the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards when they air at 9PM ET on Aug. 30.