The Daily Gamecock

Golden age of records

Tim Smith knows a thing or two about music. The owner of Papa Jazz has been in Columbia for 40 years and has spent 35 of those working at Papa Jazz. Though he played drums in high school, it was not his ability as a musician that pushed him into the music business. Music was a hobby, he says, and it was an added bonus that he could be around something he enjoyed while getting paid. Having worked at the shop for 35 years though means Smith has been around to see great changes in the music industry.

When Smith first started out at Papa Jazz, cassettes were early in their existence; it was mostly eight tracks and 78’s. The release of the CD was scary for all record stores, but Smith says that the arrival actually improved his business instead of hurting it. Papa Jazz’s business doubled in a year, the biggest jump Smith has ever had in a year. This was mainly due to the fact that CD’s were originally so expensive; customers were more open to buying used CD’s because they would be less expensive. It was also an easy way for college students at the time to make money. Papa Jazz would buy CD’s from students at around eight dollars a CD, so, Smith says, “If you were a college student and needed 20 bucks, you could bring in four, five, six CD’s, and that’s 20 bucks. It worked both ways; we almost immediately started getting a steady flow of the used stuff in, so it just kind of worked out.”

Fast forward to today, when Internet downloads make up a large portion of the music industry and more people use services like Spotify and Pandora instead of even using their own iTunes. Smith says that surprisingly, though most would expect his business to take a hit, his business has been extremely successful. “The Top 40 stuff is what usually gets downloaded,” Smith says, “stuff that falls between the cracks generally doesn’t get downloaded, that’s the kind of stuff that hardcore music people are into.” And what Smith is selling to his customers. Smith explains that the past five years for him have been the best he’s had in the industry. “This is kind of the golden age for independent record stores,” he says, noting that this might also be due to there not being big chain stores for records, leaving room for the independent to thrive.

Selling used records has also been a great boost for Papa Jazz. “If you’ve got nothing but new records, you still got a pretty small selection that’s just new,” Smith explains, saying that while Papa Jazz does very well, he would never be able to sell 300 copies of a new Madonna album in a day. That’s where Internet downloads thrive, but for the used record store, you are looking for much more than just one song. Smith sells CD’s and records online, and it makes up about 20 percent of his business. Though that is not his specialty, Smith admits that it is never something that can be thrown away or taken away completely, because he’d be losing 20 percent of his business.

The difference between listening to a CD and listening to a record is also vastly different, according to Smith. Listening to a record on vinyl is a full experience, whereas listening to a CD is more of a background sound. “It’s kind of like when I was a kid,” Smith explains. “You bought a record and you got on the couch and listened to the record … Maybe sometimes when you’re really busy you wanna pop that CD in that you’ve heard a hundred times; it’s there because I like it but I’ve heard it 20 times so I don’t really need to listen to it. But [sometimes] I’m sitting there and I’m really hardcore into music so I sit and listen.” Smith personally prefers vinyl, but says that each person is different and will have a different preference.

Smith talks about his experiences with certain artists that changed his opinion on music in general, “The first time I heard John Coltrane that was a really eye opening experience for me. I was working here at the time and I immediately bought like every record by him I could find.” He says that listening to James Brown, Curtis Mayfield and Jimi Hendrix also made him realize that what they were doing with music was different from anything he’d heard previously.

And though he names John Coltrane as his favorite artist, with his album Village Vanguard being his favorite record, and his favorite jazz band is Art Ensemble of Chicago, he speaks highly of bands like The Black Keys and Jack White. “If you didn’t know, you would think it was recorded in 1972 and I mean that in a positive sense. There’s a line between being rehearsed and being able to play your instrument and all, and being so slick that there’s just not much there. I think that at least for me, it’s a lot more interesting if you feel that there’s a little edge to it.”

Papa Jazz’s future seems bright with Smith at its helm. With an extremely knowledgeable staff, customers feel comfortable coming in and asking questions, and the feeling that the store gives off is welcoming to anyone, whether it be a seasoned lover of music or a newcomer. Smith says he used to worry about things all the time, but as more time has passed and he has grown as an individual, he has learned to let things happen naturally, believing that normally, everything will work out. And, as he says fondly, “It’s not jazz without mistakes.”


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