Episode 48 - Forever a Music Store, the Coalition with Nina Smith

On this Valentine’s Day edition of the Women in Vinyl Podcast, we’re celebrating Black History Month and the thing we love most records. We are fortunate to be joined by the incredible Nina Smith, liason for the F.A.M.S Coalition (Forever a Music Store). Nina tells us about how FAMS is supporting and nurturing Black entrepreneurs in opening new record stores, sustaining Black owned record stores and giving back to the communities around those stores with their unique and socially conscious campaigns and programs. We want to shine a light on FAMS and the amazing work they are doing. Follow, share, and support your local record store.

Check out:
FAMS: https://famscoalition.com/
On social media: https://www.instagram.com/famscoalition
Find member stores here: https://famscoalition.com/Stores

Huge thank you to returning musical guest Witch Profit, recently nominated as a Rising Leader for Women in Music Canada. Her operatic soul and alternative R&B sounds have been remixed for lovers of house, dance, and jungle with her newest release ‘Gateway Experience [CLUB MIX]’. A five track remix EP of her 2023 Polaris Music Prize album ‘Gateway Experience’. 'Gateway Experience [CLUB MIX]’ releases Friday February 16th via Heart Lake Records Inc.

THANK YOU TO OUR SUPPORTERS! Keep your records clean and sounding great with GrooveWasher. Use WomenInVinyl10 at check out: www.groovewasher.com

Commercial-Free & High Resolution version of this podcast, along with membership options and ton of other discount codes available at: https://www.patreon.com/womeninvinyl

You can also contribute to furthering our mission by donating https://www.womeninvinyl.com/donate as a 501(c)3 all donations are tax deductible. Visit the website to check out past episodes, features, and our ever growing library of resources to further the education, demystification and diversification of the Vinyl Making Space.

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Episode Transcript

(00:03):
Welcome to the Women in Vinyl Podcastwith Jen du Genio, founder of Women
in Vinyl and contributor Robin Raymond.This podcast facilitates conversations with those working in
the vinyl record industry to educate,de mystify, and diversify the vinyl community.

(00:38):
This is a this is a thisis a this is a US busy

(01:07):
bything. Thanks for joining us onepisode forty eight of the Women in Vinyl
Podcast. You just heard Lucid byToronto based Witch profit of her new remix
EP, Gateway Experience Club Mix,dropping February sixteenth. Find more at www
dot Artlake Records dot Ca. Onthis episode, we talk with Nina Smith,

(01:32):
whose career began in a local independentmusic store on the weekends, later
becoming a part time employee to storeowner. She has worked with numerous musical
artists, visual artists, authors,small businesses, and nonprofits in marketing.
She is also the liaison of theFAMS Coalition. FAMS Forever a Music Store

(01:53):
is a collective of independently black ownedrecord stores throughout the country. FAMS was
founded in twenty twenty one by dTobago Benito to shed a light on black
owned indie retail music stores and tocelebrate their contribution to the music industry while
also servicing our communities all year roundand in particular during Black History Month.

(02:15):
We want to shine a light onfams and the amazing work they're doing.
Follow, share, and support yourlocal record store. Enjoy so excited to
talk about fans today. To start, can you tell us a little bit
about you and how you found yourway to records? Oh? Yes,
so long story store. I wasabout sixteen years old, start working in

(02:42):
a local record shop on the weekendsThird World representations in Atlanta, Georgia.
So Black owned independent reports store.I had about twelve locations in the Atlanta
metro area. So start working parttime, move to full time, h
to store manager, to district manager, and ended up owning one of the

(03:06):
locations after the owner decided that heno longer wanted to be a part of
the business, and since I hadworked for him for so long, he
gave me first option to buy andit was an opportunity and a deal that
I just couldn't refuse. So thatwas my start in the music industry,
always working in a record store,and when I owned my store, I

(03:30):
was part of a local independent localcoalition call Secure in the amount of metro
area. So that's how I kindof got started in the music industry.
That's awesome. Were you just likesuch a record enthusiast when you were a
teenager that you were like, Ihave to work here, give me immediately

(03:50):
a job. To be honest,I just needed a job in high school.
I love that in high school andit was fun and I didn't like
music, and it just turned intoso much more. Yeah, I mean
the music business is sneaky that way. It's it's funny. But I mean,

(04:12):
like, was it difficult for youas a woman to get a job
at a record store? Because that'sthat's one thing that we always kind of
like run into and questioned and whatever, because we find that the woman's experience,
shared experience, and the non binaryexperience collectively is like not that positive
in a record store. So howwas it when you were a teenager?

(04:36):
It wasn't hard for me. AndI would say that the relationship with the
owners, who was a husband andwife at the time, did have a
relationship with my mom, O nice. So it was kind of like,
I need a job. Can Iwork on the weekends? And they were

(04:58):
very you know, a same thingto bringing younger people in and showing them
the business and working with them.So I kind of was fortunate in that
that I had a good, youknow, group of people working working for
that was open to it. That'sgreat. How long did you own the
shop for? I purchased the shop. I worked for them for maybe almost

(05:20):
twenty years before I owned it.I took it over in nineteen ninety.
Let me see, my son wasborn in ninety seven. In ninety seven,
I think he was six months hehad ninety seven and until about I
closed it in two thousand and four. Wow, And I just unfortunately during

(05:44):
that time, there was so muchgoing on with in the music industry,
with music sales, the bootlegging,the downloading, and I just couldn't,
you know, survive it, soI made a decision to close it.
Understandable, Are any of the locationsstill around? That was a lot of
locations. Yeah, okay, unfortunatelyno, not in Atlanta. Actually,

(06:09):
he started to sell off the locationsand the location that I purchased was the
last one. But there are stillsome you know, cool record stores in
Atlanta that's been around for some years. It's just that particular company, Third
World Representate. When I purchased,I changed the name to Music Vibrations.
You know no longer exists well andso now with FAM So what was the

(06:33):
impetus to start that and what wasinvolved in that process? So Tobago who
is the president, Tobago Benito,he's also the owner of owner of DBS
Sounds, is the president and severalyears ago, I want to say,
in twenty twenty. I came aroundin twenty twenty one. In twenty two,

(07:00):
Michael Kurtz and Record Store Day thoughtthat there was avoiding the industry with
a coalition of black owned stores.There are several three other major coalitions,
but there wasn't any black owned storesthat were part of these coalitions. And

(07:20):
so basically, you know, hethought that it would be a good idea,
and somewhere along the lines, Tobagokind of took the charge to work
with it and get it off theground. Tobago and I had a relationship
from both being store owners in Atlanta, so as he was building this,

(07:43):
he kind of asked me to helphim out for a while that I said,
I'd give him a few months todo some things. And that's kind
of turned into two years now,So I just came in to kind of
help with some things because of myprior experience with record stores and coalitions.

(08:05):
And I'm still here, you know, and working with fans to continue to
grow and make sure that it's athriving organization within the industry. That's awesome.
Yeah, And I was I waslooking at the website because I know
that it was sort of announced atRecord Store aid Camp, and I didn't
realize sort of when it started.So, uh, your mission is to

(08:28):
celebrate music and its artists by beingan intermediary between indie music, retail stores
and music labels. So how doesthat work exactly? And are there campaigns
that people can get involved with?Yes, so we have several campaigns that
we have that people can get involvedwith in it. Our main agenda is

(08:50):
to provide a platform for black ownedrecord stores to come together and support each
other. Right, So we wantto help preserve and promote the music cultural
black music as well and increase thevisibility of these stores. So we have,

(09:13):
you know, different things initiative marketingcampaigns, cross promotions, mentorship scholarships
that organizations and individuals can get involvedin helping the FAMS Coalition, So we
currently have fifteen stores that are partof the FAM's coalition. There are many

(09:39):
other black owned, black owned musicstores nationwide. There was a time where
there were hundreds of music stores.Unfortunately that's not the case. And that's
one of our missions is to makesure that there are black owned stores and
to help open black owned stores insome of these major markets. We feel

(10:00):
that there's a void of these storesin our communities and major cities. So
one of our goals is to getmore stores open in in some various markets,
key markets, music markets, Whatwould what would those markets be like
Los Angeles, New York, Detroit. Detroit definitely is one of the Midwest

(10:22):
we're kind of lacking. I canuse some more in Texas. We have
now we have stores in California,we have Chicago, we have Florida,
we have Minnesota. But there aredefinitely a lot of void and and so
we're focusing on some of those areasand looking to expand the reach of the

(10:46):
black owned stores. How are yougoing into those communities and saying like open
record stores, Like are you justgoing to places that have maybe music general
music stores and suggesting, you know, final so so it's it's part of
our mission. So we have ahuge agenda uh to support either existing stores

(11:09):
to expand or to help those whoare interested in opening a store. So
with the support of partners, whetherthey're they are labels, distribution or organ
other organization, this is part ofour mentoring program right where they come in
and support these stores to opening thesemarket to make sure that they're successful and

(11:33):
that they have the resources that theyneed to thrive, whether that's you know,
UH PR, social media, inventory, UH equipment, punt of sales
systems, right to get these storesopen and thriving in the community as well.
So we have looked at where thesestores where there's a board of stores

(11:56):
in the top market cities. Wedid that on last year and so now
we and I don't have it exactlyin front of me, but we have
top markets that we're looking at andsaying this is where we probably should go
first. That's great. I meanI know that there's no real like roadmap

(12:16):
for how to open a store soright and it changes. Right, It's
just like any other business model today. And that's why we you know,
we have this mentoring program. Weeven take say we have stores like VIP
Music in California, you know,the world famous be out there, right,

(12:41):
and then we have a store inJackson, Mississippi that's fairly new,
you know, I want to sayten years, that's kind of still new
in the industry. So they maywork together, they may partner each other
and let each other know from theptelling some tried and true methods that work,

(13:05):
and a younger store bringing in somenew ideas. Right. So with
that mentorship, we have that withinour coalition. But then we also have
professionals from the industry to come inand say, hey, here's some areas
that can improve, or here's somechanges that can make, or here's some
resources that can help you get towhere you're trying to go. It makes

(13:26):
you obvious that representation is important.But why is it important to have and
why did Michael Kurtz think that thatwas important to have a coalition of black
owned record stores. I mean,was anybody trying to spearhead it before Michael
Kurtz kind of was the guy thatwas like, hey, you guys should
do this. Well. In thepast, that had been several black record

(13:52):
store coalition but asked those stores closed. Then those coalitions went away from our
understanding. I think all of thiscame back around doing twenty twenty after the
George Floyd incident and everybody was lookingat you know, what are we not
doing or what can we do better? Right? And you know with these

(14:16):
black on record stores having such animpact in our communities, you know,
and I don't know, I don'twant to speak for mic and said what
did he think and thought? ButI'm sure the conversation came up, like
what are we doing with these storesthat are in these communities that's facing challenges

(14:37):
or social unjust injustice and what canwe do to make things better? And
we all know that, you know, as businesses come together, work together,
provide a platform to support each other. As you know, various challenges

(14:58):
take place. You know, findsme like doing the civil rights. You
know, record stores became a placethat people could go and talk about what
was going on in the world,and they became a gathering place. And
so I think, you know,that's part of it. FIM stores and

(15:22):
indeed black owned store faced different challenges, Our communities face different challenges, and
you know, African American music hasmade such an impact in the history of
America it's influenced from you know,style to entertainment to you know, merging

(15:46):
the community. It's very you know, it's very important that there's a platform
that talks about these issues. Absolutely. Yeah. And do you need to
be a record store day store orto be a part of the coalition not
a part of the FAMS coalition?No, and not out of our stores

(16:07):
are a part of recal store Day. That's good for people to know,
I think for sure. Yeah.Absolutely, you can be a part of
the thing without being a part ofthe other thing. Sometimes that's super important.
Well, and I mean the thebig pink elephant in the room,

(16:30):
I mean, how did the Illuminatedecision to not pull all of the stores
in America? It impact the waythat FAMS might have been approaching some markets
because like going from fifteen hundred storesto seventy two arbitrarily decided stores to be
reporting centers. Like are any ofyour stores in the coalition represented by the

(16:55):
Illuminate study? Now it's a directthe way it's affecting the industry as a
whole and independent retailer is definitely affectiveFAMDS as well. For several years,
and I can you know, attestto this as during my time that I've
been with FAMS, that was oneof the top things that I was actively

(17:17):
working on to try and get thesestores signed up with Illuminating. So I
understand first hand the struggle of makingthis an easy process, right, and
now all of this just happened,you know, within the last two months,
so you know, only time wouldtell where we would land. But

(17:41):
there's still a lot of work tobe done there. I think the whole
process could have been handled differently andshould have been handled differently, right.
There's definitely a lack of representation fromall stores, you know, and definitely
these black owned stores. You know, our music we carry a lot of

(18:07):
music we I think about you know, when I was young and working at
a record store, it was theplace to go to discovery new music,
you know, and these shops,you know, provide a platform of music
that wasn't heard on the radio ormainstream stores didn't know about it. Carry

(18:29):
you could go there and body's music. And so you have artists that's selling
a lot of music that nobody knowsabout it and not getting tracked, and
so are developing artists as well.So it's interesting I think we all are
trying to wait and see and figureout what's gonna happen with this, and

(18:53):
you know, I don't know,but it's a mess. It's superbus So
that's the word. For sure.They definitely missed everyone with their consultations on
perhaps maybe pulling the trigger on thisfor sure. Absolutely absolutely, well as

(19:17):
being the only Canadian in the roomtoo. Is there Canadian representation in fams?
Do you have any Canadian stores?We do not, because I mean
I know that there's definitely some blackowned record stores in Toronto for sure.
Let me see if I can findtheir information. I'll pass it on to

(19:40):
you, for sure. Definitely.This year is the uh well, I
don't want to stay the first yearbecause I don't know if it's true,
but we are about to have ashort window of applications for news stores being
become a number of fams, likein the next thirty days or so.

(20:02):
Okay, so yes, so wewill send it out, yeah, sure,
yeah, absolutely, I will makesure you get all that information.
Yes, yeah, there's any waysthat we can help you. You just
say the word. We're happy ofcourse. Oh my gosh, well,

(20:23):
very very very least, so wecan do yeah, and from your perspective,
What do you think is needed tosee some change and more diversity in
the industry. There are some thingsthat you think would help us get there.
Yeah, you know, the wholething with FAMS is right, having

(20:44):
this platform to advocate for black ownedstores, right, so in every area
we need, you know, morediversity and inclusion. And you know,
I like to use the I'm aliving in the play in field. There
are some disparacies there and we canI think together we can work on those

(21:10):
and for whatever reason, you knowthat that's the case. Sometimes it's different
for you know, different areas.But the more we make people aware of
fans, right, the more weshare and tell people about it, whether
that's inside the industry or on theconsumer side, and send our friends and

(21:33):
family to shop and support there.But you know, support from the labels,
support from distributions, support from organizationjust like this, what you are
doing, this is this is awesome, right, partnership of our marketing campaigns,

(21:55):
of our initiatives, all of thathelps. And there's nothing thing that's
you know too small. Every littleeverything, whether big or small, makes
a big impact. So there,you know, there are so many I
think it's the support. It's tocontinue to have a conversation, is to

(22:17):
let people know that these stores arehere. There should be much more.
There should be more collaboration, andI think if we begin to work on
those things and work together, it'llbe for the greater good of everybody totally.
Have you partnered with any artists too? Are any? Are there any

(22:38):
like high level artists that our advocatesof fans as well? Yes, yes
we have, and I'm thinking offthe top. I know. Last year
we did an awesome collaboration with RobertKlasper and Concord Records for a community event

(23:00):
and it was nice. We dida whole campaign. Each store did a
community event, whether they wanted totalk about mental illness or homeless or whatever.
We all our all the stores hostedsome type of event in their stores,
right, So that was a bigcollaboration killer Mike is a big fan

(23:23):
of fans awesome, so he's abig support of ours, and you know,
when there are things going taking placeof in stores and anything, gilse
he you know, try to dowhat he can, so we we do.
There is always great to have more, you know, and even Ronald

(23:47):
Records last year for black Well what'sthat last year maybe two years ago for
a Black History Month, did amazingcampaign with us with a black artist and
did a mural that went on towin an award and some other things.
So there are some things that aretaking place and that we are collaborating with.
And that's a good thing about forumsforma, right, So it's creating

(24:11):
these opportunities and these platforms to topush to push us out further and to
make people more aware of us.That's an incredible campaign. That's awesome.
Yeah. I think it's interesting toowith the label tie in, because you
know, I don't see a lotof I guess like, well, maybe
it's just not as noticeable, butthere's you know, hip hop and rap

(24:36):
nowadays being pressed to vinyl. Idon't see that as much come through,
and so I think that the representationfrom the label side may help some of
that as well, to kind ofbe reborn on the medium. Yes,
absolutely, And that's what we're seeingnow with this divinyl, right, is
all coming back for a circle,you know. And at first I had

(24:59):
it think like, what's the bigdeal with some of this music coming back
out on final But then I thoughtI was like when it first came out.
It was on a CD. Yeah, you know, I'm going back
a lot of stuff from the ninein the early two thousands. I mean,
like I work in a record storethat has like the probably the largest

(25:23):
amount of used records in Canada,and I mean everybody comes through. I
mean, shadows come through, andlike a bunch of uh fabulous Negrido came
through last year when he was intown, which was which was pretty awesome.
I mean, but like the amountof twelve inches that we on our
one wall is so crazy and it'sjust getting depleted constantly because like those records,

(25:48):
like twelve inch jams are not beingmade anymore, and like there's like
a complete like miss with like bangersingles because they're like they're just not it's
not happening more, which is likepretty sad. But I mean everything's remastered
and like spread over two LPs andwhatever. Like our hip hop section is
pretty crazy because that's kind of likeour niche market in my town. But

(26:12):
yeah, I mean they're just likethere's there's got to be a like a
conversation about price points with some storestoo, rights like when we're talking about
like disparity in wages and income andeconomies and things like that. Like it's

(26:32):
not like we need to make likea whole like budget regis like record section,
but it would be nice if thelabels kind of like collaborated to make
like, yeah, here's a oneLP version rather than two LP version.
Still sounds really good, but it'slike a better price point, like a
more affordable price point, so thatwe can, you know, yeah,
nourish these markets and nourish these theseincredible like new artists like Denzel Curry,

(26:57):
just like he when he just gotoff tour, he took all of this
stuff from his tour that he diddirect to consumer and dumped it all with
universals. So then we were ableto get a bunch to his direct to
consumer stuff, which was pretty cool. But like I mean, I don't
know, like what are the waysthat we can like as manufacturers and stuff,
like how can we how can wehelp? Like what do you think

(27:19):
we can do to like make animpact with with respect to the economy disparity
and like price points and things likethat. Well, we definitely have had
those communications, and that's the greatthing we tried to get as mini stores
attend the recal Store Day Summer Countas as well as Music Biz and your

(27:42):
conference. Right, so let's goback to what you were saying about the
releases of music. That was ahuge topic at Summer Count last year,
right, And I know Michael Kerr, Kurtz and Carrie worked really hard to
try to get more urban titles arereleased for Black Friday, record Store Day

(28:06):
Black Friday as well as for RecordStore Day, and we did see more,
you know, hip hop releases aswell. So there's a constant conversation.
And we even met with Deaf Jamlast year music Biz and they was
like, Hey, what titles doyou all want to see? And some
of that did happen, you know, So there's a start of it happening,

(28:32):
and I think it's constant communication.Even now, we're running a promotion
with Ronald Records. They just rereleased the Keith Sweat debut, Alvam and
Eric Benay on vinyl, right,and we're and it's all over social media
on the fans and you know,we're asking people their favorite songs and to

(28:52):
hear these people in these comments thememories of these songs. They know where
they were when they heard it.I was at my uncle's wedding. You
know, yeah, we we justordered that record. We just ordered the
Key Sweat Records. So I'm like, it's gonna be hype when it gets
in. I'm stuck, right,I mean, does the excitement level of

(29:15):
this record bent coming back out onvinyl, you know, and the introduction
of the people who really are tooyoung to really know about it when it
came out. But it's you know, it's an album that you kind of
constantly hear and it has this wholenew group of people. It's Austin.
So again the conversation is there.You know, we're trying to have more

(29:38):
with the labels with distribution and sayhey, this is what people are asking
for. We're on the ground level. We're direct to consume. We know
what they want, you know,we can tell you real quick without you
have to wait for data to comeout. We know what they want,
you know, as well as youknow, trying to FI figure out this

(30:00):
price point. You know, it'shard because people are coming in and having
to make decisions on do I aboutone or two? Or can I about
one at all? Is it groceryalgas? You know? But this makes
me feel good and I enjoy it. It's not cheap, you know,
And I don't know, you know, what it would take to bring these

(30:25):
price points down, but I dobelieve that's something we the industry seriously has
to look at as well. Well. And with your with the membership that
you have in fams already, isthere is it mostly like new vinyl and
the record serves or do they havea used component as well, because I
mean, most most stores have usedas well. And I mean, and

(30:51):
I'm sure you know it's a hugedepartment right now, you know. And
part of that is because of it, states or people who owned those rappers
are you know, no longer withus. But part of it is that's
the only way you can get itis you find a used copy because it's
not being made exactly. And that'sthat's exactly it. I mean. And

(31:14):
like, I'm so glad that somebodyis talking to death jam truly, but
like not that that it's not likesome old white audio file guy being like,
oh yeah, I really like thisone song that one time. Like
I'm so glad that actually, likecommunity leaders that are involved in in the
actual spaces where the music gets createdare having those conversations. That makes me

(31:37):
feel way better. We're trying,right, we're trying listening. If it
would happen, we're not sure,but we're at the table and trying to
make it happen. Yeah. Wellwe'll throw our weight behind you too.
So yeah, for whatever that meansa bunch of girls talking in that same
room, right right right? Imean, where would you like to see

(32:06):
the newest store open? Like?What what does that market look like like
for you? Where is the where'sthe hot market that you're like, we
definitely need a place here. Ithink Detroit is Michigan, the mid with
for sure. We can use themmore in the Carolinas and Alabama. Okay,

(32:30):
you know absolutely Alabama can use somemore stores. That's what I can
think of off the top of myhead before the application form comes out.
What can people do to get involved? Should they reach out to you directly
through the website? Yes, theycan reach out to me directly. You

(32:52):
may as far as stores who areinterested or anybody really. Yes, yes,
they can reach out to me directly. They can email me I'm Nina
at Famspoalition dot com or you canfind that on our website Faunspoalition dot com
and our ig just in case isat fams Cooalition. Well, Robin,

(33:17):
do you have anything else you wantto ask our seven inch question? Yeah,
I mean I have tons of questions. I mean I always do,
always do. But it's always Imean, it's always about, you know,
trying to give you know, Ninaas much time and space to talk

(33:37):
about the things that she wants.Is there anything burning in the industry that
you want to talk about, Nina, like besides this price point thing,
Like, how are you feeling aboutrecords in general? How are you feeling
about the industry. I'm feeling goodin the sense the surge a physical product,

(33:58):
right, and we're starting to seemore and more about the artists talk
about how much they get paid offstreams, and when you compare that to
physical sales, you know, it'slike they're wondering, why did we do
this? So I'm excited about thephysical stores and the brick and mortar.

(34:21):
I'm excited about the experience of shoppingfor music. I love the collaboration of
the arts of the singers, theartists, from the artwork cover to the
fashion designer. I'm loving that,and I would like to see the industry

(34:45):
as a whole, especially the repers, labels and distribution, go back to
supporting physical stores. You know,there's so much money put into digital and
streaming and and all of those things. You know, we are finding that

(35:05):
artists are back to you know,doing in stores and loving on their fans.
So I think as we continue tolook at this industry, we have
to at the end of the day, right we're trying to sell some records.
Artists are trying to sell some recordstores labels, or trying to sell
some records. So sometimes what wasold worked, yes, and what's true

(35:31):
and has it advantages and not sayingyou know, I know the era we
live in now extreamly, but Ibelieve that record stores are just as important,
just as important. And I thinkyou know, the support from everyone
for these stores who in the beginning, you know, laid the groundwork and

(35:55):
created the opportunities for developing our isthe local bands or you know, especially
in the black owned record stores wherethere may have been mainstream outlets that didn't
stock product or order inventory, thesestores did that and providing an opportunity to

(36:20):
come in and meet fans and instores or or to you know, do
a set, what have you ina store. So you know that's something
I would love. That's me personally, that's Nina. I'm so with love
to see that happening. It's sucha vibe, right, It's such a

(36:43):
vibe and an experience. And youknow, even now to hear about some
of the stores in stores and seehow fans you know, are standing in
line and you know, to meetthe artists and it's just wonderful. So
you know, experience absolutely right,right, No, I love it.

(37:05):
I think that's great. I mean, it's it's nice to see somebody excited
for because a lot of the timesit's just we we get I think sometimes
we get a little trapped in thein the bad stuff. So it's nice
to be able to you know,celebrate the wins and talk about that kind

(37:27):
of stuff. That like why we'reall still in it because we do love
it. We love it so much, right, But they will make us
feel good, right, you knowat the end of the day, and
amusing make us feel good. Soyou know, we all know the industry
we have, there's there will alwaysbe work to do, yeah, you
know, and I think as wework together, support each other, share

(37:54):
ideas, listen to one another,that all of us working together. Like
like I said earlier, it's justit's just for the greater good of the
industry. True, it's true.Yeah, yeah, you're so right.
You're so right. Well, Idon't know if you've ever listened to the

(38:15):
podcast before you. I hope thatyou're a raging fan. I did.
I did. Let me. Letme listen to them and see what's going
on. What if I signed outfor Median one is crazy? So yeah,

(38:36):
yeah, we have the best wecould live stream. This is like
stay on stream all day. I'msure people would love that. So we
have this one weird question that weasked at the end of every episode.
Oh they'll do it? Is thisthe A sided? You got it?
That's exactly it is that I listen. I listened. I love it.

(39:04):
Yeah, So we always ask everybody. It's tougher than the Desert Island question
because it's just one seven inch record. If you could make yourself a custom
boot look leg and you could putanything on the A side and anything on
the B side, what would thatrecord look like? So it's so hard,
right, it's so hard. Idon't even know if I have an
els it's so hard. That's okay, So one side would be a house

(39:28):
between a Michael Jackson huh a Princeright, okay, all right, and
then the b side would be StevieWanda m hm and all read the Friend
right. See. I mean,depending on what songs you picked, Like,

(39:51):
I could make that seven. Ican make it. It's an EP
instead, I'm down say it hadto be at forty five. I could
make that for the thirty three,no problem. I think that's fantastic.
What's your what's your favorite Michael Jacksonsong? And what is my favorite Michael
Jackson? Well, the Thriller albumis my favorite. That was my That

(40:14):
was the first record that I everbought. Yeah, yeah, the Thriller.
I love that. I was cleaningI was cleaning you seven inches this
weekend at the store and I foundDon't Stop Till You Get Enough. So
I had to play that in theshop and oh wow. And then I
found some Jamaican pressings of like somecrazy reggae, so I had to play

(40:35):
those two. So but list thatsounds like great clean up records, like
cleaning up Saturday Morning? Oh yes, all right, So Michael Jackson and
Prince we got that. I refendStevie on the beat. I mean that's
a solid record. Great job wellNina, it's yeah, it's been a

(40:59):
pleasure. Thank you so much fordoing this. Thank you, thank you,
and real quick, I just wantto because I get this all the
time, really quick, I wantto reiterate. People always say how can
they support FAMS, right, sodefinitely purchase your music from our stores.
You go to the coalition there isI mean to the website. There's a

(41:21):
list of participating stores. Help spreadthe word about FAMS. I gave the
ig, you know, just lookus up, FAMS Coalition, Tell your
friends, tell you know, spreadus on social media, attend the story
events. We have workshops, differenteducational events that takes place in the stores.

(41:43):
And you know, you can volunteeryour time or resources with us.
You know, if you want tohelp with the event, provide graphics,
is you're good at pr, grantwriting, donating equipment, anything like that,
and just partner with us with ourcampaigns and our initiatives. We are
opening applications for our revet very firstcollege scholarship this month to a college bound

(42:10):
student, and we have you know, mentoring workshops that we'd like to send
the stores to So there are youknow, like I said, various ways
you can reach out to me directlywith anything, with any questions or opportunities,

(42:30):
you know, and that's how youcan support us. Is there merch?
That's my question. Is there merch? Can I buy a T shirt?
Yes, you can. You canbuy a T shirt. You can
buy a T shirt. I havea T shirt. And we do have
a lot of merch coming this year. Some right now at the moment,
we just have T shirts, butwe also have hats and hoodies coming amazing

(42:55):
real soon. So yeah, welland we'll link all of that and show
notes as well. Yeah, absolutely, Randy ready, awesome man, Yeah,
thank you, thank you again.Great, thank you all. You
are the best. Thank you somuch. We appreciate it. That's right,
Well, thank you again and we'lltalk soon. All right, thank

(43:17):
you, bye bye bye. Thanksfor listening. Don't forget to like,
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(43:40):
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(44:02):
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