VEVO is starting the year off on a high note by announcing our groundbreaking emerging-artist platform, LIFT. And it starts today with an announcement on the People’s Choice Awards, airing tonight at 9pm on CBS!

The first artist we selected for LIFT is Jessie J. Hailing from the UK, Jessie J delivers everything we’re looking for – she’s a skillful songwriter with a commanding personality and a booming voice. You’ll have the opportunity to get to know Jessie over the next eight weeks through exclusive interviews, behind-the-scenes footage, video premieres and intimate live concerts. In addition to the available videos, you’ll also be able to just listen to each LIFT artists’ music as another element of the program – a notable VEVO first.

But that’s not all. We’re making LIFT interactive using our favorite social media – Twitter and Facebook. Fans can ask Jessie J questions, and she’ll post video responses to her LIFT page via Twitter. We’ve also created a Facebook application, so fans can be part of the Jessie J team and directly help Jessie spread the word about her music. LIFT is designed to reward artists’ fans based on the viral activity they can generate. To do that, we’ve created a system that gives you points each time your friends click on the links you post to Facebook. Accumulate the most points, and you reap the rewards – thousands of prizes from fly-aways to concert tickets and meet & greets to t-shirts and downloads.

LIFT is unlike any other emerging artist program because it leverages an online platform to impact traditional media. As we promote our LIFT artists to VEVO’s audience of hundreds of millions of fans, we’ll provide key data to radio stations making the case for the artist to gain radio play across the country. In short, this gives fans power to break new artists.

We’re incredibly excited to introduce LIFT with our inaugural artist, Jessie J.  We must thank our friends at McDonald’s for exclusively sponsoring this initiative, introducing you to the best new artists of 2011 and beyond.