Written By Liz Garcia

Photography By Abby Rowland

Modeled By Ian Street, Maura Curran, & Koli Croy

Walking into Stick It In Your Ear, a swarm of posters advertising local music events cover the shop window and customers are greeted with a wave of “hello”s from the Stick It In Your Ear staff. Music in the store accompanies guests on their vinyl journey. For over 30 years, the local record store has been welcoming customers from all walks of life, providing the Springfield community with their vinyl and music needs.

“I love that part of it, just the joy they get out of it. I’m happy people leave here getting something that they’ve been looking for — an ‘I can’t wait to get this home’ kind of thing,” said Store Owner Erik Milan.

Milan’s relationship with Stick It In Your Ear dates back to the early 2000s. Originally from Chicago, he moved to Springfield in 2006, and had already been a customer of the store when visiting the area a couple years prior. Nearly 10 years later, Milan started working at the record store in 2015. As he accrued more hours and transitioned to a full-time position, the original owner of Stick It In Your Ear, Wes Nichols, offered him a chance to buy the business.

“I worked like 12 hours a week on Friday and Saturday night. A couple guys left; I ended up taking their hours and getting full-time hours,” said Milan, “and then, I was just here at the right time whenever Wes wanted to retire and he gave me an opportunity to see if I could buy the place, and I did,”

According to Milan, Stick It In Your Ear’s inception began in Miami, Oklahoma, where Nichols opened the original store. Finding success, he expanded to three more locations in Pittsburg, Kansas; Joplin, Missouri; and Springfield, Missouri. After a falling out with his business partner at the time, Nichols took over the Miami, Pittsburg and Springfield stores. The downtown Springfield location opened in 1993, where the business eventually consolidated.

A downtown staple, Stick It In Your Ear has long been a center for individuals to share, promote and engage with music. Posters overwhelm the windows of the store, and a bin dedicated to local music awaits customers at the front of the shop. Milan even remembers first connecting with Nichols by putting up flyers in the store and chatting about local shows. Supporting local artists by advertising and selling their music is essential to the business’ philosophy.

“Whether it’s selling tickets or even hanging up posters or selling CDs or cassette tapes for local bands or records or whatever — we definitely want that to always be a part of what we do here,” said Milan.

Their Instagram promotes local events, live shows, special items and features the occasional giveaway or sale. Valuing their customer base, Stick It In Your Ear works to maintain a close relationship with their guests. Whether it be calling up regulars about “that one record that walks in that they’ve been looking for” or encouraging Instagram commenters to call with any questions, the store is dedicated to providing every service for their customers.

A sense of community also resides within the store dynamic itself, with some employees winding up in their positions just by chatting with Nichols. Dillon Kaasa, the store manager, unknowingly began his Stick It In Your Ear journey early on in life.

“Me and my mom came in here when I was a very small child a lot, probably late 90s, early 2000s. Always used to buy AC/DC CDs from Wes and once I bought all those CDs, you know, we knew Wes at that point,” said Kaasa.

He remembers bonding over a similar music taste as Nichols. As Kaasa spent more time at the store, he became invested in records and further developed a relationship with Nichols. Later on, he was asked to work at the shop, coincidentally joining the staff only a few months after Milan did. This natural affinity for connection through music is the thriving force behind Stick It In Your Ear — it seems to radiate through every individual who has worked there. Stepping into the brick-and-mortar business, Springfieldians can expect to enter a blast-from-the-past and be welcomed with genuine, human conversations.

A Drury student, Will Kaufman, who has been shopping at Stick It In Your Ear since he started collecting vinyl two years ago, notices the inviting ambiance facilitated by the staff.

“Those guys always greet people when they come in. They love to talk about whatever you pick up,” said Kaufman.

Stick It In Your Ear welcomes everyone into their store and does not tolerate disrespect.

Buying vinyl and other physical media also supports paying artists higher royalties. According to Ditto Music, a company helping artists distribute, publish and record their music, Spotify pays out between $0.003-$0.005 per stream (less than a penny). While Spotify only keeps 30% of the revenue, the other 70% is not going straight to the artist’s pocket. This amount is split amongst the rights holders of a song, which means songwriters, the publisher and the owners of the master recording (usually the label or the artist) all get their dividend of royalties. Apple music currently pays slightly higher, at a rate of $0.01 per stream. Though, these numbers are roughly averages. Streaming payouts vary depending on a variety of factors, including the country in which the listener is streaming from and whether or not they have a paid subscription to the streaming service.

Streaming policies are also subject to change. A new Spotify policy, effective as of April 1, says royalty-eligible tracks must have reached a minimum of 1,000 streams in the past 12 months since the policy.

Buying physical media better supports artists since they typically get higher royalties. It is also a permanent medium of music that listeners can keep forever, whereas on streaming platforms, there is a risk of artists removing their music.

Despite the domination of streaming, vinyl has had a significantly large growth spurt within the past few years. According to data from Statista, 49.6 million vinyl units were sold in 2023. There has been a steady incline of vinyl sales since 2006, and the trend seems to be reaching a high in the 2020s. As a vinyl connoisseur himself, Milan has noted this spike.

“Records have always been around. They’ve always been getting pressed, it’s just not necessarily to the extent that they are now,” said Milan. “The trend has really been climbing for the past 15 years — it’s not just the last 5 years. It’s just that we’re kind of at the peak of it now. It’s been coming for a while.”

In the midst of the streaming era, Stick It In Your Ear makes supporting artists and the Springfield music scene accessible. Customers can conveniently keep up with local music events as they enter the store by browsing posters on the window, then chat with the staff about their recent purchase as they take home a new record. Operated by knowledgeable, welcoming employees, Stick It In Your Ear is an inviting space to explore vinyl. Purchasing from a local business also gives back to the local economy and helps to ensure a thriving community.

Stick It In Your Ear is located at 300 E. Walnut St., Springfield, Missouri. Their hours are 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday; 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday; and 12 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Sunday.

Stick It In Your Ear: Springfield’s Music Hub