42 MusicWeek 27.04.12 RETAIL
www.musicweek.com
SOUNDS OF THE UNIVERSE
Give us a brief history of Sounds Of The Universe… We started as a humble stall selling just second hand records and soon graduated to a small shop above Dingwalls in Camden. Then in 1992 we moved into bigger premises in Ingestre Place in Soho. Our parent label, Soul Jazz
Records, was started and the range of the music sold in the shop began to diversify. Then we moved once more, ending up in our current home, a much larger place at 7 Broadwick Street with two floors of music old and new, books and DVDs.
How would you describe the atmosphere in the shop? We like to think we are friendly, open-minded, enthusiastic, knowledgable and vibing. On the main floor, we have a very large selection of new music; house, dubstep, techno and electronic as well as a varied selection of reissues from
reggae, funk, soul, disco, Turkish, Latin, Brazilian and tropical beats. The basement offers a multi-
shopping experience, old vinyl, Soul Jazz Records releases and merchandise, cult and music DVDs and a wide of academic and esoteric imported books that reflect our idiosyncratic musical tastes.
In terms of new releases, what would you say have been recent highlights in-store? It’s a fast moving picture: we sell such a wide variety of music on all different formats. There have been many highlights for us so far this year. We launched our own label (a sub-label of Soul Jazz) appropriately named Sounds Of The Universe, the debut 12" release was from Chicago afro-futurist Hieroglyphic Being with hand- etched artwork from Japanese artist 2YANG. That was a limited release sold exclusively from
INTERNET vs HUMAN
‘A lot of the labels we buy from depend on shops like ours and we depend on them. We’re all in it together.’
NICOLE McKENZIE, SOUNDS OF THE UNIVERSE
our shop and website. We’ve got a good deal more releases planned for the year ahead so watch this space.
How is business today compared to previous years? For us, it's gotten better and better over the years. We've continued to move into different genres of music and into different formats - as long as we like them - and we make sure that we listen to our customers. Things have moved on from
the days of purely physical consumption, but people still
want vinyl and we've got a lot of regulars that have stayed with us from the very beginning. As the industry becomes
more and more dominated by downloads, mp3's and large discount online stores, we have found that our customers still want the human touch and often come in asking for our advice or recommendations. We strongly believe that this has helped us to move forward.
Do you think there's more that the music industry could be doing to help the indie retailer? We deal with mainly non- mainstream music. A lot of the labels we'll buy from depend on shops like ours to push their releases and of course we depend on them for our stock. We're all in it together.
7 Broadwick Street London, W1F 0DA t 0207 734 3430
wsoundsoftheuniverse.com
Buyer and A&R: Nicole McKenzie Occasionally, larger retailers
will be given priority over the independent record store due to the sheer scale of their quantities - obviously that's not ideal for us. It’s swings and roundabouts. We handpick each individual release and aim to ensure quality. We're very happy with the support we get from the press, DJs and industry types.
How confident are you about business over the next few years? We've been operating since 1989, and we expect to be here for the foreseeable future. All hyperbole and panicking aside, we reckon that the independent record store will remain an essential part of the music industry for years to come.
This week’s High Street Hero Nicole McKenzie takes on his digital rivals ...
WE SAID WE LIKED... MICHAEL KIWANUKA Home Again
AMAZON RECOMMENDED... EMELI SANDÉ Our Verison Of Events NICOLE RECOMMENDED... TERRY CALLIER What Colour Is Love
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