Put the Phone Down, Pick the Record Up: Discogs VP Jeffrey Smith on Dis/Connect | The Sharp Notes Interview

The Sharp Notes with Evan Toth

Be honest — when was the last time you listened to a record all the way through, without checking your phone? No notifications. No scrolling. No playlists on shuffle. Just… listening.

In a world that never stops pinging, Discogs — yes, the massive online music database and marketplace — is asking us to do something radical: to step away. On October 18th, they’re launching a global initiative called Dis/Connect, it’s a day that invites music lovers everywhere to unplug from devices, skip the stream, and spend a single day reconnecting with the joy of listening — really listening.

It’s a bold move for a digital platform built on connection. So in this episode, I talk with Jeffrey Smith, Vice President of Marketing at Discogs, about what happens when a tech company tells its users to log off. We get into the ideas behind Dis/Connect, the paradox of leading an online movement about going offline, and the nuts and bolts of what keeps Discogs thriving as the world’s biggest record-collecting community.

So… could you do it? Could you go a whole day without the scroll — and just let the music play? Let’s find out.