Melody Record Shop

I’ve been buying music at Melody since 1990 when i first moved to DC. Going through the doors of the little store front on Conn. Ave. and spending as long as I care to, listening to new releases or re-​releases is always a pleasure.
People who bitch and moan because perhaps someone working the register didn’t immediately treat them like they were the only person in the shop, or perhaps one of the listening stations was down on the day they stopped in, really need to lighten up.
We continue to lose more and more independent music dealers like Melody to the internet and the large brick and mortar stores. As part of their series Hard Times: A Journey Across America, NPR featured a report on «ear X-​tacy records» which closed after 26 years of selling music in Louisville, KY.
The staff, music selection of artists and genres, accessories and the overall experience are as good as as it gets. Do you want «World Music» — Melody is the place to find it. If there’s anything you want and they don’t have, they’ll get it for you within days. And if anyone thinks owners of small shops like Melody are making fortunes, off the price of a CD think again. The cost of a store front in Dupont Circle is extremely expensive and the prices at Melody have always remained competitive with the few other record shops in the Metro DC area.
There is so much more I could write about Melody Record Shop but I’ll leave it here and hope you stop in the next time you need a music fix.
Support your local record shops,

Who doesn’t want to root for a sweet old Dupont Circle record store run by graying sound geeks? I’d be so sad if places like this went away.
Just the other day, I went in looking for a great pair of headphones for the gym. I told one of said sound geeks (the owner?) what I needed. My specifications could easily have led me to a pair of expensive phones, but he took the time to show me that a pair of $ 11.99 Sonys had the exact same specs as lots of pricier models. So refreshing!
That said, there is oooone woman on the staff here who almost single-​handedly ruins the place. I see other reviewers share this opinion. I haven’t seen her in a while, but if you ask her for something mainstream (e.g. Arrested Development DVD’s), she shoots you down like she’s a petulant seventh-​grader and you’re her mom. It’s so awkward watching an adult behave that way that I feel like impaling myself on the nearest sharp object — hardly conducive to shopping for music. But as long as she’s not there, the experience is great.

The selection at Melody is good enough, although their vinyl collection is laughable and something that they only recently started stocking at all, but the reason I’ll never go back is the high prices.
For an independently-​owned record shop, the prices at Melody are absolutely obscene. Most of your standard indie-​rock fare will be ‘on sale’ at Melody during the first week or two of its release at $ 15.99, and will then shoot up to $ 17.99 or $ 18.99 afterwards. I have no idea how they could be staying in business charging these prices… maybe they’re assuming that since they’re basically the only game in town, they can charge whatever they want. If you live in DC, you’d be better off going on an excursion to Baltimore once a month to do all of your record shopping at Soundgarden (whose regular non-​sale prices are cheaper than Melody’s sale price).
And aside from ridiculously high prices and next to no vinyl, Melody also does’t have any used albums either. If this was my only local option for buying records, I’d either order from Amazon or directly from the label’s website.

I’ve been in here dozens of times and always support the Dupont little guy — they have a decent selection of new and old.
Today I went in and asked the mildly healthy looking redhead girl with the cool piercings in her face about headphones and she rolled her eyes and continued rolling posters. I waited for a second for her to finish or acknowledge me which was awkward and then walked out. I’ve got plenty of options for headphones in town.
I just got a Unilocal account for her.

I really miss record stores. Badly. Not that I have a problem with purchasing music online but some of my favorite discoveries came when I would be in a record shop looking for a specific record/​tape/​CD and out of the store speakers would come something new that I just needed. Typically this would be at a mom & pop store that sold music for local artists without national distribution. Melody doesn’t quite remind me of those places but I give them credit for having a large and pretty diverse selection. Pretty good latin music selection and they even impressed me with some underground hip hop on the shelves.
My biggest gripe would be the prices but I understand that independent shops can’t compete with online sellers or chain stores so I won’t hold that against them. Hell, I’d pay $ 3 more instead of having to rummage through the unruly mess that I saw the last time I was at Best Buy.

If you’re in the market for cds, I would recommend this place. Their vinyl selection is decent, but you might be better off at crooked beat, red onion, or som.
Their vinyl is all new by the way, so don’t expect to go on a dig at this place. I was surprised to find some new releases here that red onion didn’t have, but let’s face it, most of their vinyl selection isn’t of my tastes. The customer service is alright. That’s not to say that these people aren’t nice. They’re nice enough by Dupont standards… whatever that means.

Although I did not buy anything, I had some time to kill in Dupont and thought I’d pop in to see what was what. I was definitely surprised to find a huge selection of dvds and cds.
Physical media is quite fleeting these days, and it was extremely refreshing to walk into a ‘record shop’ and visit my ‘friends’. Perhaps this weekend I’ll buy a record player and revisit Melody to bring my ‘friends’ home for a good ol’ listening party. Summer tunes are needed asap. I hope they carry more vinyl in the future…
Staff was nice, and greeted me, and didnt seem annoyed that I was ‘just looking’.

I spend my lunch hour digging through their new vinyl. They have a well curated selection, but it’s a bit overpriced. They also have a wide variety of CDs, DVDs and other electronics.

I was killing time yesterday waiting for my friend so I thought I would browse the bargain selection of this store. They had a good amount of CD’s on sale and I bought one that was lost in my move. I also found the DVD of the Laramie Project which I can’t find anywhere so I bought that as well.

Yo check it: awwwwww sheeeeet, Melody still in da house!!! I remember this joint way back when. It was the 2^nd to last record shop you’d hit up when you’re on your hunt. They never had no vinyl neither. I think Kemp Mill was the worst yo. Anyways, I used to do my runs — hit up Vinyl Ink (RIP Gmoney), Phantasmagoria, work my way to Orpheus, GO, Smash, Tower, then back to Olssons, Second Story, Melody and Kemp Mill (before DCCD, Crooked, DJ Hut, Mad T, etc). Then hit up Flying Saucer on my way to my boyz crib. I think I forgot that RI Ave joint by the Value Village, but oh well. Miss that fried fish joint too!
Checkit: Melody has all sorts of elctronics and gadget stuff that I would mess with all tha time. Turntables and boomboxes and yknow. I think I gots my first headphones from this joint, and also my first carrying cases when I gots mobile! Gots my first VHS cleaning tape too! I’m talkin even before Circut Sh*tty or Best ByeBye exisited yo! BUT the REAL DEAL at this joint was: it was the only stupid place in DC for a while that sold GUITAR STRINGS!!! WTF??? If the Guitar Shop was closed, you had to wait yo ass the next mornin to get some strings man. Barbara’s Guitars closed down. Bethesda, Chucks and Guitar Center are too far. That sucked. Melody saved my ass on more than 1 occasssion. Thanks Melody! Ding Dong! 4-​stars

For many years this was a record shop without any records. Lately, they have begun carrying a very small (tiny) selection of new vinyl. I’m talking like 20 records here. So for vinyl, it is not a stop on the DC vinyl tour.
I can just hear the conversation. «I told you vinyl wasn’t back. No one has bought a thing.»
I don’t know if this was a test or something, but you can’t stock 20 records, hide them in the corner, and then expect anyone to buy them (especially when you can walk over to Crooked Beat and browse a decent selection).
It does seem to have a decent supply of ceedees and other shiny silver discs. Melody also has some electronic baubles — crappy tiny speakers and the like.
2 stars for stocking vinyl after all these years. This store has a great location, if they carried more vinyl, they could do well (IMO).

This record shop has been in business since shortly after I was born, so it’s been a nice run. I feel like it’s a family affair, because my dad used to come here for his jazz records and my mom for her Jobim and her Chicago. I’m giving the place 5 stars to show my support in the face of such evil empires as Borders. They’re closing down a few Olssen’s locations in the area, so an effort must be made to keep Melody going.
This place is pretty small, but it packs in quite a selection of CD’s and DVD’s. There are a few listening stations around the store, where you just scan in the barcode of whatever CD you want to preview, and it plays 30 seconds of each song. I can’t say all the sections are complete: I am on an old-​school Elvis kick, and did not see a lot of that, nor do they have all of Monk’s albums in the jazz section. I was able to score an «anthologie» 1952 – 1956 of Monk’s music, both with his own band and with other musicians, on the French Nocturne label.
The prices here are slightly higher than the bigger chains, but I’d rather pay more for better, more knowledgeable service. I always appreciate a sales guy who will not only point me in the direction of whatever it is I want to buy, but will also suggest other music I might like as well. It’s a hell of a lot better than someone muttering, «look on aisle 5.»

This is a great local record shop. The staff is friendly and knowledgeable (not elitest), there is always great music playing, and the selection is good. Don’t expect it to carry all of the same run-​of-​the-​mill music as your local Sam Goody. While there is some of that, I think that the bulk of what they carry is less commercial. This store is small, however. They carry both CD’s and DVD’s, and some other merchandise. In addition, they do have a small used section. Anything that you cannot find, they can order for you, and you can also listen to CD’s before you buy them at the listening stations.
Many other cities have bigger and better music stores like Amoeba in LA or Easy Street Records in Seattle, but this is a good store, and I highly recommend it. I prefer to support local businesses, and this is a good one. I prefer to shop here for my music collection.

There are certain artists that I will always and forever buy CDs from. The joy of the cd jackets and liner notes, and the feeling of carefully placing a cd into the player that keeps me coming back to places like Melody Records. Now, if I were super hip I could write the above sentences and replace the word «CD» with «vinyl» and «records». Alas, I am not.
Continuing on…
Upon entering you will find a smattering of clientle perusing various aisles and musing about with CD or DVD to purchase. Can’t find what you are looking for? Ask the very helpful and jovial staff. They don’t smother you here. Rather they make eye contact and genuinely want to help. Case in point: I recently was turned onto a group TM Juke, thanks to
. I liked it so much, I wanted a CD rather than mp3s. I went to Melody, couldn’t find it. Thats because they didn’t have it. After searching through the computer system, the employee asked me if I wanted it ordered. How nice!
Booyakasha!

I’ve been buying music (anyone remember albums? cassettes?) from these good people since the early 1980’s. Their knowledge, friendliness and wide array of music (etc) has been present since the first day I walked in, anxious credit card in hand…
As a bigggg jazz lover, I couldn’t do without their willingness to stock small label releases. Long may they exist!

I like Melody records a lot. I always stop in when I am in the neighborhood. I just like the selection they have on the new release wall. I enjoy seeing what new imports are in. I have gotten pretty good at not buying something EVERY time I go in.
I recommend it if you like to support small businesses. I also agree with the Unilocaler that said they could be a bit better if they had staff recommendations and such.

I’m a huge fan of music stores, having resisted digital music for as long as possible, but Melody Records makes me think there time has come. It’s a small place, decent selection of CDs, probably a better selection of DVDs actually.
For an independent store, I just expected more, like staff picks, maybe more interesting ways of displaying the titles. I got bored easily. I suppose if you’re going in and you know what you want, go here, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to shop here.

Not that I typically shop for classical music, but ever since I read a study about how classical is good for infant’s brain development I have been dabbling. Melody has an extensive selection of classical and jazz CDs.
With superstores like Target and Best Buy, it speaks volumes that Melody is still around after 25 years. The staff here seems to have encyclopedic knowledge– last time I popped in I was looking for a CD but I had no idea who the artist was. The sales dude had me sing a bar of one of the songs and he knew right away what I was talking about!
TIP: Check out the $ 10 clearance table. Melody also closes out some classical titles at six, nine and ten bucks.

They have a really good selection of DVDs and a good selection of CDs as well. They have all different styles and genres of music, including indie, pop and classical. They offer decent prices, especially for an independent retailer!
It’s located just north of Dupont Circle so it’s metro accessible. It’s the only good independent record store left in that part of the city.

Fine selection esp. if you’re into world music, jazz, indie music or classical (the store’s not huge, but the buyers tend to know their stuff so what’s there tends to be good). I also like the shelves with classical reference books describing/​recommending key recordings of particular works. They also have lots of DVDs.
Though it’s an independent store it doesn’t mean everything is expensive — You can still find some good deals depending on what’s on sale.
I also love the location, just up the street from Dupont Circle Metro (you can see it as you come out the north exit). Downloading from iTunes is fine but iTunes doesn’t have everything, and sometimes it’s nice to get your hands on something tangible like a real CD with artwork. I know that sounds so 20^th century but what can I say, I like this shop.