by Justin Mccauley

Created on: January 30, 2009   Last Updated: January 11, 2012

When I walk into a music store, the first thing I DON'T want to see is a spotty faced teenager with some pseudo-festival I.D. tag coming towards me trying to make a sale. The reason for my trepidation is that unless I am looking for the latest Christina Aguileura or Britney Spears CD, then they are next to useless at providing me with any relevant information. People forget that when working in a service industry that their primary importance is that they have to be of service.

Working in a record store requires knowledge of a vast array of genres and within that a further knowledge of its resident stars. This doesn't just pertain to your high street mainstream record stores but also to your specialty DJ shops wherein lies the habitual record nazi who is just too cool for school. These types appear like a DJ's nemesis on the stark horizon of the record buying experience because they are like many who work in this particular type of industry, failed DJ's.

You are a customer. You enter the DJ shop. The person at the counter is nodding his head feverishly to some banal offering that will never make it on the dance floor but he has to shift units, so he nods as though it is the greatest tune ever produced. Young DJ's who don't know any better wait on their every nod and listen to his fervent gibberish as though they are pearls of wisdom from some great guru. Ultimately they walk out of the shop with a piece of vinyl that would be better served as a placemat on a lazy susan.

Enter the experienced DJ. He gives the person behind the counter a set of criteria. I want some good house. Lots of vocals, piano, hands in the air sort of stuff. The record Nazi comes back with about two hundred 12 inches because, despite having worked at the shop every Saturday for the past 5 years, he has no idea what he is doing. That is my pet hate. Because then I have to trawl through all of those records finding one that might work for me. So you narrow the criteria a little more.

I want the five best house tracks that have come out in the past month. The ones that have really dominated the scene. There will be a stunned look of disbelief. A look of sheer panic descends upon the record nazi as he realises his cover has been blown. When you are paying exorbiatant amounts of money for specialty music and the service pertaining to that product is practically non-existant then the record shop should take note of what is going on.

With the advent of the CD download sites making the music buying

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