Name: Amanda Schutzman

Job Title/Role at AMS:

Sales Representative

Please provide a brief description of your job:

I am a Sales Representative here at AMS, handling accounts for 200 or more record stores throughout the US. My daily routine is shipping orders, answering questions, troubleshooting or any customer service I can offer!

Please provide a brief description of your professional experience and background:

I wouldn’t say I’m the most experienced of our Sales Reps, in fact, I’m pretty sure I’m the youngest. But I grew up in my father’s record store and his sales rep throughout the 90’s, was Todd Oenbrink, our very own Vice President of Sales here at AMS. I’ve worked with or in record stores for a very long time. Sometimes as a Sales Associate, sometimes as a buyer of New and Used LP’s, sometimes as a manager…or sometimes, I’m just an employee who quit 3 years ago but doesn’t know how to leave. I’ve always been willing to learn something new to make the job easier. These days, I try to teach new stores how to organize, operate their websites, registers, and inventory to maximize productivity in their own way. I realized very early on that every store operates differently and a new store needs to create a system that works for their business specifically, rather than building a system around the tools or programs they’re currently using. The most important part of all our jobs is getting music into the hands of collectors, fans, and enthusiasts. It doesn’t matter how we do it if our way works best for us.

Why, if at all, is the physical media distribution industry important to you?

Growing up in an independent record store, with reps and labels constantly calling and stopping by, I noticed smaller labels and distros really seem to care about the small stores. I’ve never forgotten about that. I love music. I, myself, am a record collector, a customer of many small shops in my surrounding states. Who am I kidding? I live in New York and one of my favorite independent record shops is in Ohio. **WILL TRAVEL FOR RECORDS** But I have close friends that have opened stores nearby and it’s a true honor to be able to help them. You could think of AMS as a large one-stop distributor with thousands of accounts, big box stores like Walmart and Target…. but in fact, don’t be fooled by our size. A majority of our accounts are small, independent brick and mortar stores. We have less than 10 Sales Reps working here who have been in the industry for a very long time and ACTUALLY care about these stores on a personal level. Most of us have travelled to these shops and know the owners and/or staff very well. We love what we do, and it shows.

Which of the following values are important to you, as they pertain to the work environment?

-Diversity and Inclusion

-Equal Pay

-Seeing More Women in Leadership and Executive Roles

-Sharing Ideas Freely

-Access to Educational Opportunities

-Career Development and Advancement

-Receiving Assistance with Professional Growth Opportunities

List one or more ways you believe the music and entertainment industry could be more inclusive to women and other marginalized individuals.

There are many ways the music industry could be more inclusive. I don’t have all day to sit here and talk to you about that. I suggest you listen to the Women in Vinyl Podcast and hear it from different perspectives of women working in all music fields. Like women working as mastering engineers, music teachers, label reps, pressing plant operators, record store employees, professional DJ’s and more. There will always be ways to make things better. The first step is hearing it from all sides.

What changes, if any, would you like to see implemented in the physical media distribution industry?

The industry is changing every day. I wouldn’t want to push for any immediate changes because you never know where it’s going to go. I work day to day trying to help as many stores as I can and that’s my main goal. As long as I can get that done, I’m willing to wait for bigger and better things to come.

Please list your general interests outside of your job.

That’s funny.

Share something unique about yourself!

I love taking myself out to very large, expensive dinners…no one else is invited.

What is your most played album, song, music video, or genre of music so far in 2024?

I’m currently trying to learn all the words to Coi Leray - Players. Check back in next year.

Name an artist, band, concert, album, song, movie, tv show, book or otherwise entertainment-related medium that had a major impact on your life.

Liz Phair’s Whitechocolatespaceegg came out when I was 8 years old. My dad got the promo CD right before my first day of summer camp and played it for me on the drive there. We listened to that album every morning for the rest of the summer. It was that summer that I started branching out and discovering new bands on my own and thoroughly bonded with one of my camp counsellors. We would swap Discman’s with each other on field trips. I got him into Teenage Fanclub and he got me into Radiohead. Liz Phair is still one of my favorite artists today and Whitechocolatespaceegg will always be one of my Top 10 albums.

What is your outlook on the future of your career at AMS?

I don’t have any goals in my mind other than getting to know the record stores in the United States as best I can. I would love to one day have the knowledge to point any collector in the right direction based on what records they usually shop for and the state they live in or are traveling to. Basically, I want to know a little bit about every independent record store in America…one day.