Attendees at The Format listening party browse records at Used Kids. Credit: Mia Ross | Lantern Reporter
The new year has fostered even more community-based music consumption through events known as listening parties.
It has become customary to see people absorbed in individual listening experiences with personalized playlists, curated algorithms and noise-cancelling headphones. However, a desire to engage with music as a group — outside of concerts — has gained popularity as people crave connection in like-minded spaces.
One local record store, Used Kids Records, actively promotes the movement and keeps an event schedule packed full of opportunities for the community to participate.
“There are no listening parties that we say no to,” Greg Hall, owner of Used Kids, said.
The store, located at 2500 Summit St., exists as a sort of cultural hub during listening parties with disparate people coming together for the shared love of one thing, according to Hall.
A regular at the store and co-founder of MadLab, a theater in downtown Columbus, Eric Myers said he is very passionate about intentionality being brought back into music through listening parties.
“I think it’s fantastic to get people out of their homes, on their headphones, listening to whatever algorithms spoon up to them,” Myers said. “It’s nice to have intentionality behind your music choices, and I think what [Hall] and the whole crew here does is really fantastic.”
For Myers, these events are a meaningful movement that he participates in, regardless of his personal feelings about an artist or album.
“Even if it’s an artist I don’t love, I’m not naming any names, I really enjoy the kind of energy in the room and I enjoy seeing other people who love this music so much,” Myers said. “That makes me happy.”
This weekend, listeners came out for The Format’s “Boycott Heaven” advanced listening party at Used Kids and the energy in the space was electric.
Attendees were given freebies including stickers and posters, and the aisles of the shop were shoulder-to-shoulder while folks were the first to hear the indie-rock album. With this, people had the option to put their name in a raffle box, free of charge, to win an autographed poster.
Conversations struck around every corner as people’s souls filled with the powerful melodies pouring out song after song.
Thom Skarzynski, curator of The Format listening party and music industry executive, said listening parties are a positive trend for society, and he works hard to book as many for his artists as possible.
Skarzynski said he has worked alongside notable artists such as Travis Scott and Twenty One Pilots. During his time with these big-names, he’s become aware that streaming alone does not work for every artist. He said sometimes, the fanbase needs a sense of community and tangible collectibles.
In 2025, Skarzynski founded his own business, Happiness. Marketing. Happiness. Marketing aims to promote artists through community-based experiences for fans, such as listening parties.
“I love setting up the listening parties, because it feels like everybody just shares a pulse there,” Skarzynski said. “You all have a shared love of something.”
With this, the business designs collectible items that foster a meaningful artist-audience connection through tangibility. Some of these collectible items include box sets and zines custom to the artist or album, Skarzynski said.
Hall said the material offerings are a huge motivator for people to share in the social aspect of listening parties.
“A lot of people come to the listening events because there’s freebies, there’s buttons, there’s posters, there’s wristbands, there’s signed autograph stuff,” Hall said.
Skarzynski agreed; he said the draw of listening parties lies not only in the community it builds, but also in its memorabilia offerings.
“Streaming brings awareness, but people want to touch and feel and hold on to something,” Skarzynski said. “That’s why I love record stores and I love these listening parties.”
Future listening parties can be found on Used Kids Record’s event schedule.
