Mojo Records offers Bruins variety of music genres

“Niche” is a fitting word for Mojo Records. Not only
does UCLA’s new record store find itself positioned in a
niche within Ackerman Union, but it also serves a special niche in
the student community.

Located on Level A under the shadow of the Cooperage and the
textbook store, Mojo benefits from its neighbors’ popularity
as well as elevators that lead patrons directly in front of the
store. However, only two or three customers are spotted inside at
any given glance. Are record stores a vital niche to campus
life?

“I like having stores in universities because generally
college students are looking for the newer titles,” Mojo
founder and owner Brian Molina said. “They’re looking
more to experiment with their musical tastes. Most people get
introduced to more new music in college than anywhere else. People
here listen to all kinds of different music ““ from country to
metal to rap to classical jazz. You really get a great variety of
listeners on campus.”

According to Mojo manager Guy Baker, proximity is also an
important factor. “When you have a store on campus,
it’s just more accessible for students,” he said.

A graduate of Yale University, Molina was convinced by friends
to extend his 3-year-old record store business from the University
of Arizona at Tucson, his hometown and Baker’s alma mater, to
UCLA, which had recently lost its record store Moby Disc.

While at Yale, Molina longed for a place on campus where he
could be exposed to more than just mainstream music. He made sure
that UA Tucson featured the place for fans of indie rock and
underground hip-hop.

“I hate how typical radio stations have a top 20 list, and
every song on that list is played 50 to 60 times a week so you
don’t hear anything else,” Molina said. “Most of
the bands I like can’t afford the playing time on the radio.
Part of my mission is to open people’s eyes to all the other
stuff that’s out there. Just because it’s not on MTV or
KROQ, doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.”

Molina says that even though Mojo carries plenty of titles from
indie bands, its inventory is very limited compared to those of
Wherehouse Music and Pug’z. He concedes that Mojo is not
going to have a stack of every Red Hot Chili Peppers album. His
intentions, however, are not about challenging the music store
titans of Westwood Boulevard.

“I consider it a chill spot,” Molina said. “I
don’t mind students coming in just to listen to music. At
least I know which records people are interested in.”

Some simply believe that people are losing interest in record
stores in general. In fact, many students either have no knowledge
of Mojo or have yet to set foot inside the store. The main reasons,
as usual, are time and money.

“I don’t really know about the record store on
campus because I listen and shop for music on the Internet,”
third-year UCLA student Shao Shen said.

Like Shen, second-year student Dominique Lisiero usually buys
her CDs online. Despite the rise of the Internet as a convenient
guide to music, Lisiero still sees a function in campus record
stores.

“It’s always nice to browse around and have
something tangible in your hands, but record stores should know
that their prices aren’t the best out there,” Lisiero
said. “It has to be affordable because we’re all
college students.”

It remains to be seen whether Mojo will hold on to its little
niche or become another casualty of the Internet revolution.