Record Store

Record Store is an ethnographic treatment of the owners, employees and customers that make up the culture of an independent record store in urban Philadelphia . As the American music industry struggles to find its place in the digital world, various subcultures made up of DJ’s, audiophiles and music enthusiasts continue to buy actual records, sometimes to their financial and emotional detriment. Although divergent by musical taste and style, they are all united as self-identified vinyl addicts. This ethnographic video shot over several years of fieldwork explores a number of topics including discussions of the relative value of material culture, issues of addiction and collection and how the world of popular music and DJ culture relate to larger social issues such as race and gender in the United States .

Matthew Durington

Matthew Durington is an assistant professor of anthropology in the Sociology, Anthropology and Criminal Justice Department at Towson University. He is a product of the graduate program in the anthropology of visual communication at Temple University. His research interests include suburban drug culture in the United States, gated community development in South Africa, indigenous land rights in Botswana and music culture.