On the first Monday of every month, I gather with a room full of people here in Columbus, Ohio, to discuss an album in depth. Together with my friends at The Scatter Joy Project, we introduced The Album Club back in October 2025 as a way to create more opportunities for togetherness and connection. Since then, we’ve hosted genre-spanning conversations on projects like Bon Iver’s SABLE, fABLE and Ravyn Lenae’s Bird’s Eye.
I first learned about album clubs — or “book clubs, but for music” — on Substack. I tapped in with Dave L. when I saw his chordinnate album club was hosting a virtual conversation on Bon Iver’s first and last albums. As a fan of these records, I decided to give it a try. What I found was a group of people who were passionate about music and shared interesting perspectives I hadn’t thought about before. I felt free to geek out and knew I’d do whatever I could to be at the next one.
From virtual discussions to trying my hand at in-person gatherings, I’ve seen a genuine excitement for album clubs. Here in Columbus, we’ve had a waitlist for every meeting. As people have caught wind of these events, I’ve started hearing from folks in different cities who want to start their own. If this is you, here are some questions for you to consider as you begin exploring what’s possible.
1. Is there an Album Club that already exists?
When starting anything, my first question is whether something like it is already happening. While I’m comfortable leading, I don’t need to be the one in charge. I can gain just as much—if not more—by participating in different communities. I think we miss out when we jump to lead instead of supporting organizations that are already in motion and helping them thrive.
While I saw local record stores hosting listening parties, which I love attending when I can, I wasn’t aware of any album discussion groups in town. This felt like a gap we could help fill. I’m still involved with the chordinnate album club and join their virtual meetings when I’m available. Although I can’t always make it to different community events, I love supporting good people doing good things—even if it’s just a repost or sending announcements to friends.
I recommend doing a quick search for whatever you’re looking for. When I began to consider starting my own Shut Up & Write chapter, I reached out to different writers and literary friends in the city. I asked them if they knew of anything like what I was proposing. While there are a couple other Shut Up & Write groups, there were none that met close to downtown.
You might attend an online or in-person album club and find that it doesn’t align with your interests or values. That’s okay. At least you gave it a try. And maybe, by you sticking around, they’ll evolve in ways that weren’t on their radar before. You might also find a different set of people you can reach with your club.
2. In-person or virtual?
There’s no wrong answer here. It’s really up to you. I’ve found a lot of value in both types of album clubs—and there’s even a secret third thing: hybrid. From listening parties I’ve attended, I saw how powerful it is to be in the same room experiencing music together. But I’ve also gained a lot of value from virtual discussions and love that I can participate from the comfort of my couch.
I lucked out with a location for The Album Club because Scatter Joy has its own third-space storefront. I have a homie who’s looking to begin hosting an album club at the bar where he works. Another one of my friends, Ebrima Jassey, hosts in-person music discovery events at Vowels’ showroom in downtown New York City.
Depending on your vibe, there are a lot of ways you can go. It can be open to the public or as intimate as dinner with friends. One of the things I loved when leading a virtual album discussion last October is that friends from all over the country got to join. I had homies from New York, North Carolina, and Salt Lake City all on the same call. At the end of the day, what is going to be most conducive for the conversations you want to have and the environment you want to create?
3. How are you picking your albums?
“Choosing an album isn’t easy,” wrote Paste Magazine’s Josh Jackson for a story on album clubs. He’s not wrong. There’s so much music out there and so many directions you can go. That’s why I’ve done two things since starting The Album Club: (1) I don’t lead every discussion, and (2) I ask people to share an album they want everyone to listen to.
Dave of the chordinnate album club inspired me to tap other people to suggest albums and lead the discussion. I know that my reference points are limited. While I enjoy listening to different genres, there’s so much music that I haven’t listened to—and I love learning what others are into. Shanté’s discussion on Baby Rose’s To Myself helped me recall a collaboration I heard of hers with BadBadNotGood. I also made the connection with her appearances on Dreamville’s Revenge of the Dreamers III.
Knowing I wanted to open the floor to other attendees, I created a QR code flyer that reads, “What’s an album you want everyone to listen to?” I place the flyers around the room during Album Club meetings and prompt people to share their suggestions. There’s also an option for people to note whether they’d like to lead a future discussion. Over the past few months, we’ve received nearly 100 sign-ups and album recommendations.
When building out the schedule, I’m mindful of picking a diverse group of discussion leads whose album suggestions maintain good variety in gender, ethnicity, and genre. Especially since we’re early on, I try to strike the balance of curating a lineup of artists that aren’t too obscure and still keeping it interesting with plenty of opportunity for conversation. As we go, we’ll take some risks and continue testing the limits of what’s possible.
4. Listen to the album or just discuss?
This is really a question about how you want to structure your time. There are so many different ways to interact with our favorite albums, and it’s simply a matter of what’s most meaningful to you and your community. We structure The Album Club similar to most book clubs where we listen to the album prior to the meeting, then come together to discuss it. There are other album clubs that are more focused on listening to records together.
The best advice I can give is to stay open to how your community might evolve over time. From the beginning, I told people that I’m along for the ride just as much as they are. I thought, when first starting The Album Club, that we’d break everybody into smaller group discussions. We tried it for the first meeting, and it went well. But there was a desire to hear from more people. During the next meeting, we ended up with one large group around the shop. I was worried the conversation may not be as intimate, but people really opened up. We haven’t turned back since.
Be open to surprises. Just because you’ve done it a certain way doesn’t mean you have to keep doing it that way. When you ask your community what they think, you might hear ideas you’ve never thought of. This is the beauty of building these spaces together. This is when it goes from being yours to ours.
5. How often are you meeting?
This question is dependent on a few different factors, but I really want to focus on making the cadence work for you. You don’t start an album club if you don’t want to be at the meetings. You want to be there as much as you can, which means it needs to work with your schedule. Album clubs should be sources of joy; they shouldn’t add to the burnout we’re pushed toward in so many other areas of our lives. You don’t want to bite off more than you can chew.
Overextending myself was my biggest worry about starting The Album Club, but I knew I could commit to meeting once a month. With organizing events, I’ve found that it’s easiest to plan around these gatherings when they happen in regular intervals. By meeting on the same day each month, hopefully, this allows for more consistency—and with consistency comes community.
Depending on your capacity and the appetite of people in your community, you can, of course, meet more often. But you’ll want to ensure that you’re not sacrificing the quality of your club by adding more meetings. What’s most important, at the end of the day, is that you and your people are comfortable being yourselves and gathering around what you love together.
This is meant to provide you with thought starters as you begin dreaming what your album club can be. I’ve shared some of what I’ve learned and encourage others to do the same. If you started an album club or have participated in one, please share in the comments what you’ve found helpful or really enjoyed!