It’s 7:30 a.m. on a weekday, and Ulf Oesterle is the only person in his shared, open-plan office in Smith Hall. He reaches to his bookshelf for a record, slides it out of its jacket and places it onto the turntable he keeps within arm’s reach. As the needle drops, after a crackle and a pop, music begins to blare from his stereo system.

He’ll play and sing along with “We’ll Live,” a single by Stephen Douglas, an artist he manages, four or five times in one morning.

Oesterle, whose office houses only a sampling of his over 2000-piece vinyl collection, is an assistant professor in the Setnor School of Music, as well as the chair of the Department of Music and Entertainment Industries at Syracuse University.

He also owns and operates Aux Records, a local, independent record label he started in 2003 as a doctoral student at SU.

Saturday marks Record Store Day, which is annually recognized on every third Saturday of April. On Record Store Day, independent record stores host events and release limited-edition albums to “celebrate the unique culture of a record store and the special role these independently owned stores play in their communities,” according to the Record Store Day website.

While local venues such as The Sound Garden and World of Beer will also be hosting events to commemorate the day, Oesterle and his label are taking part in a first of its kind “Indie Label Meetup” at the Funk ‘n Waffles on-campus location.

Seven local record labels — Aux Records, L.R.S. Records, bettyElm Records, Hex Records, Marshall Street Records, Ghoul Tapes and SPIT FAM Tapes — will have tables in the restaurant where customers can listen to their music.

Oesterle said this is a way to promote the musical talent in the area, as well as to bridge the gap between The Hill and the city.

The event was purposely planned close to SU’s campus in the hopes that it might draw in more students, said James Bort, owner of bettyElm Records and one of the creators of this event. He said he wants those students to see and appreciate local labels and what they represent.

“(Money from sales) isn’t going to go to some shareholder somewhere, or some fat cat executive in New York who has an office on the top floor of a building,” Bort said. “These are kids trying to make music, and by supporting it you really are funding the next record that they are trying to make.”

Some students are directly involved in the event, including reps from student-run radio station WERW and 20 Watts, an on-campus music magazine.

WERW, a Record Store Day-registered station, will be part of a “Vinylthon,” an event created by those who run College Radio Day, aimed at raising awareness of college radio stations. For an hour Saturday morning, the station will be playing only vinyl and only music from the labels being represented at Funk ‘n Waffles.

The station is also encouraging its DJ’s to continue playing vinyl all day, something students don’t usually do because of the convenience of streaming. Caitlin Lytle, the general manager at the station and a senior Bandier student, said:

Throughout the day at Funk ‘n Waffles, there will be acoustic performances on the hour every hour, as well as a full show starting at 8 p.m.

Vinyl sales have seen a surge in popularity over the last year, with sales growing by 30 percent in 2015. Forty percent of the albums were sold in independent record stores, according to a Jan. 8 Forbes article.

Nick Oliver, a co-owner of L.R.S. Records and another key planner of the event, said he believes this trend comes from people wanting to experience music in a way they haven’t for the last 10 years.

“You had certain big artists and things like Record Store Day that turned vinyl, and music in general, back into an experience-oriented thing as opposed to a commodity,” he said. “You can burn a million CDs, but there’s only so many records. And if one breaks, now there’s one less of that record around.”

Digital music doesn’t always have the same impact as vinyl, said Stephen Douglas Wolfe, an artist represented by Oesterle and the first act in Saturday evening’s concert.

“When you open up a record … there’s just something about the ceremony of that,” Wolfe said. He’s in the process of releasing his own series of singles on seven-inch records. “Getting home with a record and looking at your find, and opening it all up and looking at all of the liner notes … when you’re just buying something on iTunes, you miss out on all of that.”

Oesterle said he hopes the event Saturday will be a memorable one for a similar reason.

In addition to the vinyl sampling and live performances, he said guests will have an opportunity to design their own cover art on blank jackets and may potentially get free records, at least from his label.

The first 100 guests will also receive an exclusive cassette compilation, in the spirit of Record Store Day’s traditional release of limited-edition albums. Oesterle said he’s confident they’ll give away all 100 of them.

Oesterle also added he doesn’t think the event is limited to just vinyl lovers — people unfamiliar with record culture might be drawn to it, too.

“They can see what it’s like to drop the needle and find track two or three, or to really interact with it and feel what it’s like to hold a record,” he said. “It’s a great way to spend a Saturday. To be able to go someplace and experience the music for free.”

Published on April 13, 2016 at 9:11 pm

Contact: mcbuck01@syr.edu