Doing it all her way makes Lindsey Stirling a YouTube superstar

If you don’t know who Lindsey Stirling is, you probably don’t spend enough time on YouTube. Or watching reality television. Or talking with anyone under 30.

The YouTube sensation and violin superstar is a musical force to the modern age. The 28-year-old rose to fame as an “America’s Got Talent” quarter-finalist in 2010. Since then, she has gained even more popularity on her wildly popular YouTube channel, which has more than 6 million subscribers.

Her most popular video, an original instrumental song set to dubstep, called “Crystallize,” has more than 112 million views – yes, 112 million. Her second album, “Shatter Me,” released in April, reached No. 2 on the Billboard 200.

Stirling has become a regular at popular music award shows alongside mainstream artists, appearing in the past year at the Billboard Music Awards, Teen Choice Awards and CMT Music Awards. Earlier this year, Forbes magazine dubbed her one of the “30 Under 30” artists to watch in music.

She next performs a sold-out show at the Gallo Center for the Arts on Feb. 2. Fellow rising YouTube music star Megan Nicole will open for her.

Stirling’s success as a visual artist in a musical format has a lot to do with her creative videos. A self-described “dancing violinist,” she told the Arizona Republic last year that the creative process for the videos are just as important as the music itself.

“Some of the songs, I actually think of the idea before I even write the song at all. I’m like, ‘Oh, my gosh. I have this crazy idea that’s so fun for a music video. I need to write a song that fits this.’ I even tell the producers when I walk in, ‘I need a happy-go-lucky song that feels like K-pop or whatever.’ And we’ll go off of that,” she said.

“Other times, like ‘Master of Tides,’ we started the song, and immediately, as we were really just starting the backing track, I was like ‘Oh, my gosh, this is a pirate song. The music video is going to be a pirate video. Like, that’s all there is to it.’ And onstage, it’s a pirate song. My dancers are dressed like pirates. It makes me excited because I think visually. I originally went to school to be a filmmaker. And so it’s a big part of how I think and how I write. And it inspires me a lot.”

Stirling’s meteoric success has attracted some of the old guard of the music industry. In 2013, she signed with Lady Gaga’s manager, Troy Carter. She joined tenor Andrea Bocelli on a European tour in late 2014. And she recorded a remix of John Legend’s No. 1 smash hit “All of Me” with the singer featuring her on violin.

Still, all of her music is put out through her own independent label, Lindseystomp Records, which gives her much pride and freedom.

“There is such an advantage to self-releasing. If you can do it yourself, it’s the best way to go. In Europe and the rest of world outside the U.S., I have licensed my music to labels. But it’s amazing because I still own all the masters. I didn’t have to give up any of those rights. I have 100 percent creative control,” she told the Arizona Republic.

“If anyone ever tells me, ‘We don’t like that song,’ it’s kind of like, ‘Well, I like it. Too bad. I’m sorry.’ Album artwork? I get to make the decisions on everything. Touring, where we go, what costumes I wear. Nobody can tell me what I should do or what I need to do.

“ I always love to get advice and feedback, but at the end of the day, I get to be the kind of artist that I always wanted to be. I don’t have to own up to anybody or report to anybody.”

This story was originally published January 21, 2015 at 4:00 PM with the headline "Doing it all her way makes Lindsey Stirling a YouTube superstar."