Welcome to the Club

Don’t forget your USB in 2023

I first got introduced to USB Club and its two founders, Yatu and Norm, a few summers ago at a show called Unfinished put together by a mutual friend, Sean Thielen. I’ve run into them probably 100 times since then and I eventually learned to have a USB with me whenever I thought I might.

On the surface, USB Club is a network for sharing information — from which I’ve collected some cool stuff, including archived Virgil Abloh lectures, unreleased music and work-in-progress files from creatives around NYC.

But, behind the curtains, what Yatu and Norm are building is really the internet infrastructure for hardware and a renewed channel for meaningful cultural production and distribution, all with the small data stick we remember from middle school computer lab at the center of it all.

For some quick background, you also have to know that, up until a week or so ago, Yatu and Norm ran a very important space in the city called the Factory.

The Factory was home to many evolutions: a woodworking shop, where a lot of people I know learned to make their first piece of furniture, a fellowship they started called Campus Complex, and a social and sound experiment called Listening Labs. A lot of what they do now I see as an extension of their philosophies on the social network effects of learning environments, which extends even from their college days running hackathons. For Yatu and Norm, the city is a campus and the world is like the internet: full of endless possibilities, if only we could plug into it.

And, on top of all of this, the conversation below feels even more timely now that Apple just officially announced yesterday that you’ll be able to charge the new iPhone 15 with a USB-C …

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Juliyen: I think I met you guys for the first time at the Unfinished show last year – that was also my first time learning about USB Club. And I gotta say, it’s crazy to see how it’s evolved since then. but for those that haven’t ever heard about it, what is USB Club and how has it evolved in your eyes since then?

Yatu: I think that's beautiful. Sean Thielen put that event together. I remember we just had a USB hanging on a string with some headphones tied to it and we had a tiny flag for USB Club.

But, to answer your question, currently, USB Club is a network for sharing what matters. And it's evolved in so many ways, through so many touch points and so many in-real-life activations.

We built this concept of an ATM (aka an Automatic Transfer Machine) and it's traveled a lot and been the reason why we've been able to create a worldwide network. It's become a way to provide people who care about cultural production with digital-physical souvenirs, and a new distribution channel.

Juliyen: Right now you guys are mostly introducing the world to USB Club through activations at different events, right? And it seems like you guys have been everywhere: Paris, Tokyo, and all over NYC. Y'all are almost as ubiquitous as USB ports, which I’m sure is part of the goal. Can you guys talk about your philosophy there?

Yatu: I don't actually think we're actually trying to do these things. These are all inbound. So every single time we've pulled up with an ATM, it's been because someone's like, we want an ATM here. We've been following the energy, or following the electricity as we like to think about it.

We allow the host who's doing the cultural production work to distribute whatever content they want. We just provide the infrastructure, the tools, the hardware and the mechanics for people to engage with it.

Juliyen: Truly, it seems like what you guys are designing is the space, the culture, and the network. USBs might not be new but USB Club is certainly a new way to see them and interact with them. How do you think about it?

Yatu: We started off on the ground floor working with the people who already carry what matters to them on USBs: DJs. And I think what's special about USB Club is showing people an alternative future for auxiliary devices, like CDJs, that you can plug USBs into.

This is what people think of when they think of USB sticks – the USB, obviously – but once you switch ours around and you see that there's a USB-C side too, you can start to see the possibility it has to be a bridge.

For example, when we look around, and we think about how many USB ports are around us, we wonder, what if it was all connected? And we imagine as indie hardware continues to grow, there's going to be more auxiliary hardware devices that can choose to allow people to partake in their digital inventory.

Juliyen: I remember following the USB Club Twitter when I first discovered it and seeing some dope images of USB fashion – USBs as earrings, as necklaces, as bracelets. I wonder what light that shines, if any, on how you guys think about object culture?

Yatu: That definitely came organically – it just started happening. People like to accessorize or use objects as an extension of their identity. I think that there’s a funny inside joke on the notion of wearables, as well. 

Norm: But, we're not telling people what to do with it. We just want to observe. 

Juliyen: What are you guys plugging into? What’s on your guys’ usb?

Yatu: Everything?

Norm: I love to have my music on my USB. My music is only distributed on USB Club, so if you're getting it from me, you're getting it from my USB. 

Yatu: I put all my film photos on there. For me, it creates a real personal value, knowing everything that image has gone through, and where it's at, and where it lives and how it's shared. It makes it very special and intimate.

Juliyen: What can we expect from USB Club in the near future?

Yatu: We built a mobile app and we have a desktop app that we've tried with a small group of people. We’re playing with ways to have it all connected.

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