Built from humble beginnings, Selected have progressed as one of the industry’s leading label’s and most prominent YouTube curator. They’ve been massively influential in establishing some of dance’s music’s biggest artists in the scene, as well as being an instrumental figure in the YouTube playlist curating movement that kicked off under a decade ago.

Noteworthy artists such as Disclosure, Duke Dumont, MK, and Jessie Ware to name a few have seen success from the label, whilst Selected have essentially helped shape current dance music with up to 1 billion streams on DSPs. Some of their most prominent releases include Kelvin Wood & Sam Robs ‘No Scrubs’ (41 million) and Marcus Layton ‘Sweet Dreams’ (28 million), an example of how influential Selected have been for the current music market.

WWD: Hey Selected, thanks for joining us today! First up, can you tell us about Selected and how you started out?

Hey! Selected is one of the leading House Music brands online. We curate & find new releases and hidden gems for our followers
to enjoy. We also sign artists under the Selected label to push them to the forefront of our platforms and establish them in the House music scene. Though being digitally based, we are also producing exclusive events & DJ sets in off-locations around the world. We started around 8 years ago as two friends who just grew into House music. Digging for tunes on SoundCloud became our passion and it was incredibly rewarding sharing music we loved through our channel with people who could appreciate it.

WWD: Could you tell us a little bit about your vision for the label and how the YouTube curation scene has transformed since you first launched?

8 years ago when we started, YouTube was a very different place. Music streaming on YouTube was much bigger for curation brands than it is today where Spotify, Apple Music and other DSPs are taking over. There were many other people trying to establish their own brands on YouTube. Copyright violations were on the daily and if you had no network you had no future. Luckily, we dodged most of these situations, so that when we became relevant enough we were able to properly clear every song we upload. Now that most genres are represented between many established brands it’s definitely gotten much harder for new ones to emerge.

WWD: What sparked the idea to start the channel and label? Is there any particular story behind it?

During the summer of 2013 we were both hanging out to hobby-produce some music on Ableton Live. It was the time when the first music brands on YouTube started. We spontaneously came up with our own version, our own brand. Selected was born in a bedroom when we weren’t even decided on any genre we would want to represent on our channel. That’s when we spent hours and days on SoundCloud and started to get into House music. After the first two years, we teamed up with two more experienced partners for the Selected label as a strategic step in our brand development.

WWD: Are there other labels that inspire you?

There are many brands we look up to such as Defected, Anjuna, Cercle, and many more.

WWD: Selected has been influential in the scene, helping to bring success to artists such as Meduza, Duke Dumont, MK, Joel Corry and Gorgon City. How does this make you feel?

Being seen & recognized as an influential partner by big artists like these is great validation for what we’ve been trying to build for over 8 years.

Personally, we are huge fans and it’s really fulfilling to get close to them. Standing in a small room in a cabin in Iceland with Meduza when they did the final touches on ‚Paradise‘ during the time when we produced our Selected Session with them is just priceless.

WWD: How do you discover artists?

We try to filter everything that’s out there through DJ sets, Spotify playlist, SoundCloud and so on. A lot of music now reaches us through submissions or management and label contacts.

WWD: Any up and coming artists you would like to shout out?

SOMMA is definitely one to watch! You should also not miss Fred Again..

WWD: What is your most notable memory since you started Selected?

It’s hard to pick one. One of them would probably be to film a public party on a moving subway train in Berlin with MK and Sonny Fodera. Being from Berlin where that kind of thing just hasn’t happened before makes us proud.

WWD: What are your plans for the rest of 2021, and what are your hopes for the label moving forward?

Right now, it’s our priority to establish our brand and playlists across all DSPs. We are also hoping that Corona is about to end so we can finally make plans to take Selected Sessions public for unique ticketed events around Europe and the US.

There are also new locations & artists confirmed for new Selected Sessions videos productions which we are really looking forward to. Overall, we want to keep up the momentum from last year and establish our brand even further.