Here’s what it’s like to attend a Cue the Record vinyl listening session: Feet tapping, eyes closed, heads nodding to the beat, singing and dancing like no one is watching. For everyone in the room, it’s not just an event, it’s an experience.

Cue the Record creates a space for people to bond over “a shared love of music and analog sound,” according to its site. Based in New York, the collective was founded by Mustafa Ali-Smith and Semaj “Sem” Davis, both 28-year-old, mid-Westerners from Chicago and Detroit respectively.

The collective’s monthly vinyl listening sessions are the real draw. On Sunday evenings at 4:30 p.m., music lovers come together to listen to an album, in full, on vinyl and discuss its personal significance to them as individuals and its cultural contributions to music in general.

“Cue the Record is like a book club for music lovers basically,” says Davis, who freelances in production and works in real estate.

As a unit, Ali-Smith and Davis have created a “third space,” a place beyond work and home that people visit often to find community and connect around a shared interest. Originally called a “third place,” the term was defined by sociologist Ray Oldenburg in 1989.

A huge draw to the creative space are its vinyl listening sessions, where the community listens to an album, in full, on vinyl.

Courtesy of Joshua Hemmings.

The structure of Cue the Record’s listening sessions allows for a deep dive into the artist and their work. It typically follows this order:

Mingling hour: While the listening sessions do have recurring attendees, most of the people present are meeting each other for the first time. Attendees are offered complimentary sparkling water or wine. There is also a curated DJ set or playlist.Introduction of the album and artist: A brief background of historical or cultural context, plus a breakdown of ground rulesListening session begins (Side A)Brief intermissionSecond half of the album plays (Side B)Discussion: “We’ll pose some questions to the audience, pass a microphone around the room [and] let people share some of their own personal experiences or thoughts,” says Ali-Smith.Raffling of two free copies of the spotlighted vinyl of the session

Cue the Record has hosted listening sessions for albums like Frank Ocean’s “Channel Orange” and Missy Elliot’s “Supa Dupa Fly.” Their album picks span across time and genre, platforming a variety of music interests.

“Sometimes the albums that we select reflect the times that we’re in,” says Ali-Smith, who also does social justice work. “Roy Ayers passed away, and we wanted to do a tribute to him. So, we selected an album that was connected to his work and his legacy.”

CNBC Make It spoke to Ali-Smith and Davis about creating Cue the Record, and why they feel that having this unique space is important.

‘There was no space that really was about intentional listening’

Ali-Smith reached out to Davis on Instagram one Saturday in August 2024, to pitch the idea of working together on a project. Ali-Smith wanted to talk it through with Davis in-person and the next Tuesday, the two grabbed coffee and discussed what would become Cue the Record at Lips Cafe in Brooklyn.

The pair realized they wanted to build the kind of space they’d both yearned for but hadn’t been able to find. “There was no space that really was about intentional listening, especially when it comes to albums [and] listening in its entirety,” Davis says.

That December, they hosted their first event at Commune NYC, a cafe and wine bar in Brooklyn.

Between Ali-Smith’s passion for collecting records and mixing them live as a DJ and Sem’s vast vinyl collection, the two bring both a vast knowledge and a deep love of all things analog to their informative, yet lively experience at their listening sessions.

Eventually the duo expanded their team to accommodate their growing number of guests; Ross Thompson, CFO, and Motunrayo Olusa, the team’s event support lead.

One year after its inception, the collective has grown into a community of repeat visitors and new attendees who look forward to what the team is doing next. Cue the Record now has a mobile record store for people to source vinyl records for their own collections, and hosts “Extended Play,” DJ sets that are solely done using vinyl.

“Cue the Record is like a book club for music lovers basically,” Davis says.

Courtesy of Vincent Osei.

“At this moment, you’re hearing that term, ‘third space’ getting thrown around all over the place, and people are really looking for that,” Ali-Smith says.

“You have a bunch of strangers coming into this room, and the one connecting factor is that they were all interested in this record. They were all interested in the album that we chose. And so that alone, being a factor of bringing people together, I think, is pretty powerful.”

Davis finds that being in a “heavy digital space” has left so many people yearning for in-person events where they can connect with like-minded individuals. “We have demographics of not even just young adults, but people bring in their aunt, their grandma. I just think it’s so beautiful,” she says.

Though their vinyl listening sessions aren’t free, general entry tickets are currently $22.99, Davis and Ali-Smith want to keep the price as financially accessible as possible while still factoring in costs for venue, tech and drinks.

“We’re not viewing Cue the Record as this one-off event that people come to, but like a really strong community that we’re creating so people come back to us. They’re a part of something,” Ali-Smith says.

“We don’t want people to have to pay for community, if that makes sense. Yes, we have these ticketed events [but] if there ever is an instance where someone reaches out like ‘Yo, I want to come to this, but the ticket price a little high,’ well, you can still come.”

‘I’ve been needing something like this’

I attended Cue the Record’s most recent vinyl listening session on Oct. 5 for Marvin Gaye’s “I Want You” album, and found that their community is growing and people truly enjoy the space that Ali-Smith and Davis have created.

“This is my third Cue the Record event, and all of them have been great,” Curt Saunders, 33, told me while waiting in line for the event to begin. “They’re covering albums that I really enjoy.”

After hearing about the collective from friends and seeing videos of their events online, Saunders realized that Cue the Record offered up something he’d been missing. “I’ve been needing something like this,” he said.

Though Saunders says it’s been easy to bond over music with friends, it’s been difficult to find a curated space devoted to exploring the creative process of making albums. “I’m very introverted usually, so it’s been good to connect to music in a way that feels like a socially acceptable way for me.”

We’re here to gather with like-minded people, people that love music, people that love timeless music.

For Kyra Moore, 28, and Courtney Webb, 27, Cue the Record’s October vinyl listening session was their first. The pair of friends, from St. Louis and Kansas City, were traveling to New York for the weekend to celebrate Moore’s birthday.

Moore found the space on Instagram, and subscribed to their newsletter which shared information about the upcoming session. Finding spaces like Cue the Record in Kansas City has been difficult for the two, Moore says.

“We’re here to gather with like-minded people, people that love music, people that love timeless music,” Moore says.

“Music is like a time capsule. It’s like art for a moment in time, and I think people that appreciate it are like-minded people [to me].”

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