Stick It In Your Ear

I feel like this place exists just for me. Helpful, friendly staff. Huge selection of vinyl music. I always feel better after a visit!

Stick It In Your Ear Record Shop presents itself with admirable order. The bins are well organized, browsing is easy, and the balance of new and used records suggests a shop that understands the habits of its customers. For Springfield, the selection is respectable, if not adventurous, and there is genuine pleasure to be had in flipping without frustration. My reservation lies not in what is present, but in what is emphasized. A noticeable portion of the jazz offerings consists of DOL and Wax Time pressings—labels that trade less in music than in legality. These records exist because European public-domain law allows them to do so, not because anyone involved has access to original master tapes or a concern for faithful sound reproduction. They are typically sourced from compressed digital files, pressed cheaply, and dressed up to resemble something more authoritative than they are. One pays a premium for what is, in effect, a handsome approximation. This would be less irksome if such pressings merely supplemented stronger options. A handful of higher-quality reissues—Tone Poet, Blue Note Classic, or even solid used originals—would have rounded out the shelves and signaled a clearer commitment to sound as well as appearance. As it stands, the shop feels a touch too willing to monetize the uninitiated jazz buyer. Stick It In Your Ear is tidy, competent, and pleasant to visit. With a more discerning approach to its jazz stock, it could become something better than that. Three stars, given with the hope that improvement is both possible and likely

STICK IT IN YOUR EAR is easily the coolest record store in Springfield. The musical selection is terrifically eclectic, they've got a ton of vintage stereo gear to go with it, they're very supportive of local artists, and the owner is quite simply a very nice, affable human being who is always up for an interesting conversation with the customers. . . so on top of having an impressive collection of vinyl on hand, they actually deserve your business. GO THERE NOW and give them all your money.

I think it's been about 20 years since I have been in a record store and this was a wonderful introduction to shopping for vinyl. The selection was amazing, something that really stood out to me was like right when you walk in the store they have all this audio file equipment right there and I like I really wanted to just buy everything they have they have this giant equalizer that I haven't seen in a system in forever like you can get a real good setup. Furthermore, we got this nice little section of vinyl for local acts that was real cool to see and the vinyl wrapped around like three walls. They had a bunch of obscure albums and they had a bunch of popular albums and I just wish they had a slightly larger progressive rock section but that's just me. I'm definitely going to go back.

Haven’t been to this hidden gem of a record store in several years. Great selection of a lot of records, cassettes, merch, posters & more. Super glad to have returned & stepped foot into a massive wave of pure nostalgia back in the heartland of the 417. 🤘🏻