The first of a new feature in which Classic co-founder, DJ, producer and all-round musical good guy Luke Solomon speaks to some of the best and least known record shops, both digital and in the real world.

First up, Luke chats with OYE’s Pablo Beaner, and gives us a little background about the idea behind the series of interviews. 

Over the years I have bought more music than you could shake a stick it. I have witnessed music-buying habits and watched the mutation from physical to digital. It's pretty commonplace to see interviews with the people that make and play music, but not quite so common to get the shopfront views of the people that make said music available to buy.

Over the coming weeks and month I will be hosting a series of online interviews with some of these global music dispensaries.

The journey will take us across the world visiting many respected shops both on and offline. I will be quizzing store members and owners on the general consensus when it comes to buying music.

My aim is to be far reaching and broad, and hopefully to open some doors and expand peoples’ peripheral vision with an ultimate goal: to encourage you to not only search for music, but to buy it as well.

How did you get your job in a record store… and where did you start out?

OYE has been open for 11 years, the 12 year anniversary is coming in October, I think. The original owner (Lovis) was really into salsa, cumbia, latin music, hence the name OYE, which in Spanish is a way to tell someone to listen. I have been working here about 7 months. I knew Markus (one of the current owners) and had talked to him about working at the new Kruezkolln location once it opened. I missed working in a record store and wanted something solid to go with music income too. I ended up working at the main location because Tinko (the other current owner) figured out I have a lot of record store experience and knowledge and thought it would be better put to use there.


Was it a means to furthering a DJ career or career in music, by having access to music?

Of course, working in a store helps you have your hands on the newest things coming out all the time, but philosophically, the customers come first at OYE. If we only get a couple copies of something new in, the workers order more for themselves so customers can still get new stuff. I tend to buy a lot more overlooked older stuff, but the exclusives and special things OYE gets sure do help build sets into something special. I am also going to distribute some of my labels future releases through the shop. It is a nerve centre of music, so it is clearly a help in my music career, even if I hadn’t planned it that way.

What are your thoughts on digital music versus physical? Do you buy digital music as a consumer? If so where?

I’ve just answered this for another interview recently. I run a vinyl only label (though we do plan on giving all the music, magazines, etc away for free digitally eventually). I do not want to rehash this topic, but in a world where art is being relegated to being disposable and largely meaningless, should we not do everything we can to establish creative endeavours as meaningful? I very rarely buy anything digitally; usually only if there is something not available physically. Sometimes if I have a special gig where I want or need to take more music than I can carry, I will buy some stuff I have digitally. Where do I buy it? In the Aether. On the line. The webternet.

Do you shop outside of your store?

My bosses won’t like this, but sure. All shops have different curation and selection, especially for second hand records. I get the vast majority of my records from OYE, but I stop by other places from time to time and order special things from faraway lands occasionally. In the long run, it is better for all the stores for more to be open and successful. The more people who love records and buy them, the better each one will do. I am not a big believer in capitalistic competition, the invisible hands of the free market, or hating on other people who do what you love to do.


What have you had to do to survive the competition and battle the decline in physical consumption? Have you had to diversify?

OYE has grown consistently over the time it has been open, as I understand it. Of course, digital has probably eaten a big chunk of the market, but the shop opened after there was a large scale flight from vinyl anyway, even in the hotbeds of vinyl: dance music and hip-hop. Things go up and down, but Berlin is a vinyl loving town, so I think the store is safe. We don’t sell illegal arms to dictators on the side, if that’s what you mean.

Do you think that giving yourself an identity as a place to come and buy certain more specific kinds of music is still very relevant? Is this something that is missing from digital consumerism?

Of course. The curation of a physical record store is super important! We were voted second in Germany in Groove. I think that is because of Markus and Tinko (with the help of our whole staff) only buying stuff that they think is good and represents OYE well. 

Do you think there is a solution to this quandary? The concept behind the compilation I am working on is coupled with the concept of trying to encourage people to search far and wide for music. Currently we are governed by charts and statistics in the digital world. iTunes has Genius recommends, which has its moments - is there a solution that could help everyone including physical stores?

The solution is the same across the board, not just in our little musical ghetto. Divest from the invented, hierarchical game of Capital. Invest in community and education about community. This is idealistic, and I doubt this will happen, but in small ways, with most great record stores across the world, it is already happening. People come in to hang out; younger people learn stuff and make lifelong connections and ideals. We have great in-stores that bring non-record buyers in and they start buying records. Stop mourning the end of culture, and do something to keep it alive. That is the solution.

Have you ever contemplated adding a digital arm to your shop.

We have a webshop, but there is no way the store would ever sell digital, we might even get rid of our CDs. No one who works there likes to deal with them.



Is Discogs and the second-hand market an area that you have added to your business as a way of generating revenue?

Not really. There are a super-limited amount of records that are on Discogs from the shop. In fact, we sometimes put up stuff that has been ridiculously overpriced on Discogs up for a reasonable price. Speculative record buying is out of hand.

How do you see the future of record stores… is there more optimism than there was? The press constantly promotes the rise of vinyl, but we are still talking small numbers compared to the heydays in dance music particularly. Have you noticed a renewed interest?

The press stuff is an angle. It makes sense for the press to sell a particular story. I do not know what the difference is. I took a 10 year break from working in record shops. The last one I worked at was 70,000 dollars in debt. I am busy when I work every day now. That seems like a good thing.

Finally - Oye has a very distinctive vibe and possibly one of the most organised record stores I have ever been in, heck I even got told off for not putting records back in the right place. But it seems like a place that carries a lot of pride. Is this something that helps pushing stores through both the good times and the bad times?

For sure. Everyone who works at OYE loves the store. They wouldn't be there if they didn’t. Working in a record store isn’t going to buy you a yacht. Everyone who works at OYE wants the place to do well and be as great a store as they can imagine. We have long time employees who all have specialties in different genres of music (we do NOT just sell house and techno records… check out our Afro, Re-edit, Soul/Funk, New/No Wave/80s, etc, etc.. sections). We have a crew of young guys who know way too much about music for their age and tell the bosses about stuff they might have missed. The store is a collaborative effort that everyone is totally happy to be a part of. Which is why we have taken OYE out of the store and started to do parties at Chalet, at OHM together with the Hotflush guys, and we have some other exciting big OYE hosted things coming up I am not allowed to talk about!

Visit OYE Records: www.oye-records.com/

Luke Solomon’s Unfinished Business Volume 1 is out 08 June (vinyl sampler and digital) on Classic Music Company - order the vinyl from Juno and the album from iTunes