Coming from a strictly electronic music angle, my theory is that DJ's are immediately closer the act of presentation than someone who makes original music and therefor has a shorter path to the stage. Since for better or worse music making has become much more accessible, curation has become more important as well, to filter things out.

I originally posted this on Instagram, then remembered - wait - we have a forum for this now!

Someone replied to me saying that its perhaps that the DJ gives the audience context for the content, which to me makes lot of sense. Nowadays the primary method of music consumption is streaming platforms where music is ripped from its context and served to listeners as disembodied bits. We experience tracks separated from the context that the artists may have originally intended and it takes will and effort to track that original context down. Curation places these pieces back into a new context for consumption thereby making the curator seem like the preeminent actor.

Anyway, curious what folks think.