We recently connected with Dakota Woodworth and have shared our conversation below.

Dakota, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Risk taking is something we’re really interested in and we’d love to hear the story of a risk you’ve taken.

Well, lets set the scene. I was building pontoon boats for Manitou in Lansing. Third shift factory work, I believe I was making $21/hr + overtime, and was about to be promoted to fabricating their line of specialty boats. Honestly, a lot of my time was spent just standing around with a broom and waiting for the next boat we actually had the parts for to come down the line. So very easy work 75% of the time for pretty solid pay! I just simply felt like a dead man walking the entire time, because there was no passion for what I was doing, just the next boat, and more broom time. Previous to this I had cut my teeth in HVAC, and always had something productive to do, whether I was running parts and/or tools to another tech or I was troubleshooting and fixing someone’s furnace or A/C. Manitou taught me that it was very unhealthy to just do nothing, regardless of the pay. Anyway, it was about 2AM, and I was using electrical tape to bandage up my hand because I had just put an 1/8th inch drill bit through my palm by accident. My phone was going off in my pocket, and I realized my father was calling me. He never calls, especially late at night, so I knew it was important. I picked up, and he had a very simple, 6 word question for me… “Do you want a record shop?”. He has ears all over Owosso and heard that Round Midnight Records (RMR) was going to be closing down, but that the owner (Steve Hodges) would be willing to sell to the right fella. I thought about it for all of an hour before I called back and told him to set up a meeting between me and Steve. Really I had a very simple choice (in my eyes) to make once I got down to it. I could continue to work for a company that in all honesty I was growing to despise (the “Man”), though they paid plenty well enough to keep me coming back, or I could take a leap of faith to try and build something I loved. I could keep the safety and security of the wage slave, or I could finally own myself and create something that I not only enjoyed, but that brought happiness to everyone in my community! So after a brief conversation with Steve and the wonderful process that is securing a business loan, Steve sold me RMR and I quit Manitou that day. Once I really got down to the brass tacks and realized exactly how much went into owning a business, I was definitely intimidated, but also instantly addicted. Owning yourself and every aspect of how you make money is incredibly liberating! From the very first day RMR reopened in November of ’22, I felt and saw the love and support from my community! Every ounce of stress when taxes come due or when I am hunting for rare LPs is rewarded tenfold when I get a long awaited album into a fans hands. And now that I have become a business owner, I will never go back to wage slavery. The skills and determination, the sheer gumption that I have acquired by virtue of taking this risk have been life changing and eye opening. Not to mention the awesome people I meet, both clients and fellow business owners in the community! Being a dealer in the music industry has been an absolute dream come true, and I wouldn’t change the decision I made on that factory floor for all that glitters in the world.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Hello, I am Dakota J. Woodworth, the Record Keeper and Owner of Round Midnight Records (RMR)! I got into the business of selling, buying, and trading physical media (vinyl, CD, cassette, art, etc.) through equal parts preparation and luck! Preparation in the sense that I already had a (relatively) small record collection and a few other pieces that I was trading and selling on Discogs, so I already had an idea of how to grade and sell records, as well as having a nose for good deals on collectors pieces and haggling for bulk lots via Facebook Marketplace. Luck in the sense that I happened to know the right people who contacted me knowing that RMR would be a perfect fit for me when Steve decided to sell the business. But music has been integral to my life since long before I got into physical media, from the moment my father introduced me to Eminem, Linkin Park, Disturbed, and pretty much every dad rock band you can name! My mother was also kind enough to expose me to all the most excellent R&B and Nu-Metal you can think of (Korn, anyone?). I was the kid all through middle and high school that had to be repeatedly told to take my headphones out during class, and I would usually just turn it up or play it without! I literally can not imagine living without having music. It’s… the language of the Soul. It doesn’t matter the actual language it’s in, Spanish, French, German, English, Greek, whatever, the feeling that I get from good music gets so fundamentally ingrained into my very being, that I consume albums at an astonishing rate. For me, music, from Rock to Reggae, from Country to Soul and R&B, from Metal to Indie Pop, is like auditory heroin (Badflower, anyone?). The reason why I love physical media so much more than streaming is because I genuinely believe that it is important to be able to actually physically own the art you love. The Gorillaz could pull their music from Spotify or Apple Music anytime they want, much like Taylor Swift did with Spotify at the end of 2014, but that doesn’t matter to me, because I own at least one copy of every one of their albums (several I have two or three copies of on multiple formats).

The biggest problem I help my clients with is finding rare albums. There is always someone trying to find the original pressing of L.A. Woman by The Doors in near mint condition, or a numbered Beatles White Album, or more obscure records and artists, like King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard! I specialize in connecting people with their next collectors piece by any means necessary. Whether it’s on vinyl or CD, recently reissued or out of print for a decade, I am a hunter, deep in my soul, and can find nearly anything. And honestly I pride myself on getting people the music they love at reasonable prices!

Another thing I pride myself on is designing and running the Round Midnight Records website (www.roundmidnightrecords.com). It provides an alternate (better) option than Amazon for anyone who doesn’t have a local record store to go to for their next audio fix, or simply don’t have time to hunt through the bins. Music is one of those things that everyone should have access to, it’s as necessary to me and many of my regular clients as water, heat, food, or shelter. I personally used to use Amazon when I first started out collecting Indie records that were hard to find in local shops, and I can not tell you how many records I had to send back due to damage from shipping/storage. Several titles I had to send back multiple times before I got even close to an actually mint copy, if at all. Meanwhile, I take the utmost care to properly store, package, and idiot proof my shipments so that even if the postman were to stack it under something heavy, drop it, or even chuck it across the van, you still get a mint record upon delivery. So, providing a reliable option to get new and vintage records delivered, as described, has definitely been one of my crowning achievements.

The main thing I want every fan of every genre of music to know, is this. When you buy a record or CD or anything from a local shop vs. Amazon or Walmart, or streaming it on your preferred streaming service, you are directly supporting not just that business owner, but your local community. Money spent within your community tends to stay in your community, rather than filling the pockets of some faceless corporation that couldn’t care less if you stopped shopping there. Every time you come into a local indie store, even just to shoot the shit about something happening within the industry, you are making their day. Online sales are huge for many record shops as well, nothing puts more pep in my step to waking up and seeing that a couple people ordered an album or CD off the website! I know I ship everything out with a complimentary sticker and a handwritten thank you note. Shop local, shop small. And big love from Round Midnight Records!

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

I had spent most of my youth and young adulthood chasing dollar bills, mainly for status or materialistic purposes. I had at least two jobs at a time since I was 16, and got my first job at 15. I had four jobs at 23. I missed out on family, friends, and really anything that would have actually brought enjoyment to my life. I sacrificed my education for fast money. When I got sick of retail, I jumped into a 10 1/2 month HVAC program and picked that as my “career path” because it seemed like the fastest way to make decent money. And all this get rich quick at the cost of… living, basically, really turned me down a dark path, in a variety of ways. Every dollar I made was spent on a multitude of methods to make me think I was happy, or at least ok, when I was actively drowning.

Running Round Midnight Records might not make me the richest man in Owosso, but it allowed me to take my life back. I got sober, I pursue new goals every day, and I still get to spend time with family, go to concerts with friends, and just generally enjoy living again. I guess some times when you know you aren’t on the path you need to be on, you just need to start at the beginning again. And sometimes you got to do it again and again, until your feet walk the path that fills that hole. It has been a blessing every day, to be able to slow down and enjoy the music!

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

Honesty, first and foremost. I don’t like to sell records that I wouldn’t want in my own collection, quality wise, and I have heard horror stories about people buying near mint records on Discogs or Amazon that were definitely not near mint. So I grade my records and CDs very conservatively, primarily via playtesting. I note every minor defect on the albums when applicable. And, if something slips by me (which does not happen often), where I sell a record that is closer to Good but I listed as Very Good+, or even just sending the wrong variant of a record out, I stop at nothing to make it right. Whether I can get them a replacement at no cost to them, a full refund, or store credit and discounts for their next purchase, I work tirelessly to ensure the satisfaction of my clients with every piece of music that leaves RMR.

Second is variety. They say variety is the spice of life, and whether you are a Swiftie or a Juggalo, I do my best to cater to every music lover that I meet. Besides, you never know who is going to put you on to something new and awesome!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.roundmidnightrecords.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/roundmidnightrecords/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/roundmidnightrecords
• Other: [email protected]

Image Credits

Credit for the Sabrina Carpenter Listening Party Promo Picture to Sabrina Carpenter and her Awesome Team!

Credit for The Record Store Day Logo to Record Store Day, the greatest supporters of Indie Record Stores!

Everything else is original content from Dakota Woodworth and Round Midnight Records.