YouTube stars Sam Tsui and Kurt Schneider: Don’t give up, and be yourself

YouTube-based careers are quickly becoming commonplace as more and more channels provide ace content and allow talented unknowns to find an audience. Though only some are able to snage a fanbase of at least a million subscribers, those who do get the chance to go for tours around the world.

Two such talents are Kurt Schneider and Sam Tsui, currently in the Philippines as part of their Asian tour. The two have a combined 5,719,801 followers since their Michael Jackson medley—now with 32 million views and counting—hit the net in 2009.



The views didn't come so easy at first, as Schneider related to the media during a press conference at Solaire Resort and Casino on Monday. Persistence, and love of the craft, motivated the duo, and eventually led to the fame they currently enjoy.

"The most important thing is to not give up because if you love what you're doing, just keep doing it. For the first year, we were putting out videos and they weren't getting a lot of views... If we stopped because our videos weren't getting a ton of views, we wouldn't be here right now," he explained.

Tsui added that they also wouldn't be as successful if they didn't follow up their initial hit medley with consistent hits.

He said, "When you're building your YouTube channel, you're not just trying to put your weight behind one video and hope that that will get successful. You have to do that on some level to get that exposure. But if you're lucky to have that, you really have to then follow up with consistent content because you want to build a channel that people want to go back to."

More than making a name for themselves, Tsui said YouTube is a great venue for artists to improve their art in today's digital age.

"As an artist before the social media age, you were playing shows a lot, but this forces us to—every week—put ourselves in front of millions of people, which is a rare opportunity to hone your craft and see what works and what doesn't work," said Tsui.

Covers and originals

A good reason behind their channel's success was the unique way they presented both their covers and original songs.

"We're always trying to stay fresh and innovative both visually as well as musically and on YouTube, that's really important," said Schneider. "When people go on YouTube, they wanna see something really interesting as well as hear great music. So we're trying to think 'What would be a cool way to film this?' in the studio."



Tsui said covers challenged them to add something to make it interesting and distinct from their origins, but their original material always gave them a unique test in all areas of its execution.

He explained, "It's obviously challenging because it's not proven material you're working with. It's a little bit of a risk, but people like that, people like feeling that you're making yourself vulnerable with your own words and music."

Fan support, and demand, also helps them in maintaining their consistency and output rate, with Tsui saying they "owe" their fans the content.

"[Fan demand] makes it so we just have to really be consistent in terms of our material, just not waiting for months to put something out. We really try to give them content all the time and always give them great stuff," Schneider added.

Easy partnerships and ownership of success

Schneider and Tsui, friends since their "Bus 21" days in middle school, said their relationship made collaboration easier.

"If you don't like something, you have to be able to communicate that with the person you're working with. Just being comfortable with someone has helped with making a project gel. If we disagree on something, if Sam thinks it should be some other way, I have so much respect for Sam, that it's like, 'All right, try it, let's listen to that'," explained Schneider.

Because of their YouTube success, Tsui said they have received offers from record companies and TV shows to sign up on various projects. While he respects other YouTubers who took similar offers, he said it was important for him to control his career on his own terms.

"The artists who go on [shows] very much are putting their faith in other people, and sometimes it could be great, but you're also at the whim of a lot of things. At the end of the day, they're TV shows, they're for getting viewers than for the integrity of the artists," said Tsui.

Even without the support of a record company, he said his debut album "Make It Up" managed to rake in numbers and generate interest due to his strong social media following.

Be yourself

Production values and quality music aside, both men said it was important for aspiring YouTube artists to present themselves as they really are, not a manufactured version of themselves.

"Now with YouTube and social media, I think what people crave is real people. When they're watching your videos, they wanna know who you are and it's so important with what you're doing to present yourself as you are, not to worry about what other people are going to think [or] how people are going to respond to that," said Tsui.

The Sam and Kurt fans see in the video, he said, is "100 percent" them, "two kids who love to make music." He said they're "very normal people" who just happen to "make music that people enjoy".

"We just stay true to who we are and continue to develop content that genuinely love. We try to not phone it in when we make a video. Each time, we give it all we can and always, we show who we are," Schneider concluded.

Overwhelmed with success

Though they're now doing the rounds around the world, Schneider and Tsui said they remain incredibly grateful that their fans love what they do. Schneider said this was nothing they expected when they were making music in their dorm room at Yale.

"We always had dreams of being here, but it wasn't the thought when we were putting up those first few videos, so it's still kinda crazy for us. It's still surreal being in the Philippines and originally, we were just in Conneticut," said Schneider, a mathematics major who graduated magna cum laude in 2010.

He added, "It was very surreal; it's like when you have a birthday, suddenly you're a year older but it doesn't really feel different. The day still went on: you still have to go to school and do work. It's an interesting combination—it's surreal and yet we're still down to earth, doing what we do."

Tsui, who graduated magna cum laude a year later with a degree in Ancient Greek, said it was surreal meeting their fans in the flesh, despite interacting with them on Twitter and other sites.

Both hope that their fans will attend their live performances and support the release of the feature-length iteration of "College Musical", one of their oldest series, in September this year.



Tsui and Schneider are set to perform at the SMX Convention Center, Mall of Asia, on June 25 and 26, with Tsui's parents attending both dates.

Tickets are still available at SM Ticketnet, with prices ranging from P5,280 for limited VIP tickets and P800 for bronze. — BM, GMA News