DIGITAL TAKEOVER
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RISE OF THE YOUTUBE CURATOR text VI NGUYEN photo KATHRYNA HANCOCK @ 7ARTISTMANAGEMENT hair + makeup ANGELA PETERSON Tammy Szu didnât mean to become a YouTube channel curator. Sheâd lost her iPod, and the obscure, then-unknown musical picks on her playlist werenât to be found on the Tube-verse. So Tammy decided to upload her own tracks in order to help her study while away from her PC at home. A mere accident then became a precipitous stumble into the world of audio cultivation. More than 45,000 subscribers later, the 24-year-old has become a respected authority in up-and-coming, underground electronic music acts. Just how did Tammy and others like her become trusted figures whose curatorial prowess gained them access to an elusive world in which other artists came to them for a âbig break?â Tammy didnât always listen to electronic music. She grew up listening to underground hip-hop, and her first playlists were on the nowdefunct imeem. Then she dated a DJ, who happened to introduce her to electronic music. âEven though I got introduced to electronic music through trance and other mainstream stuff, I always just liked weird stuff,â Tammy laughs. âIâd show my music to my friends and they didnât like it so Iâd just be like, âF*ck you, Iâll listen to what I want.ââ That fearless embrace of the strange and obscure has undoubtedly been the formula for Tammyâs success. She began her acoustic relationship with YouTube in 2009, and though her initial selections were slightly haphazard, her channel has since become more purposefully crafted. The evolution of her channel includes âGerman and weird tectonic stuff, some European shit,â and nudisco, after which she started uploading music with photos of stylized fashion editorials as video backgrounds, because her tracks sounded like the melodies she associated with runway shows. Eventually, her photographic choices ventured into the more avant-garde, as her musical taste meandered into a decidedly less glitzy territory. Acts like Kastle, Pelican Fly, Sinjin Hawke and Morri$ soon began reaching out to Tammy, sending her exclusive tracks after receiving attention on her blog. But donât mistake her for being easily swayed. She purposefully makes an effort to help out artists who arenât yet big, âwho are struggling to get up there.â She cites DJ Paypal as an example, âIâve been uploading his stuff for a while and he just got signed to LuckyMe.â The record label LuckyMe happens to be the home of veritable electronic acts Jacques Greene, TNGHT, and Machinedrum. Still, with this kind of access to an exclusive network, it has to be tempting to veer off her art school trajectory. When asked whether she planned to stick with her art-steeped career or go the music route, she explains that the two often go hand in hand, citing the procurement of acts like Pelican Fly to produce an exclusive track for a Rick Owens runway show as an example. Likewise, DJs often reach out to artists to create custom motion graphics and visuals for their performances, something that Tammy is interested in pursuing. And with her selective finesse, it makes sense. After all, helping DJs and producers find apt visual representations of their music is none too far from her process of curation. As her digital platform has become a thoughtful display of taste, a case for style, and for Tammy, a sonic representation of her personal identity. YOUTUBE.COM/TAMMYSZU
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