Last Friday, online music company Bandcamp hosted the grand opening of a new record store and performance space in downtown Oakland. Local artists Sol Development, Queens D. Light, Jazz on the Sidewalk, and MJ’s Brass Boppers performed in front of a packed house.

Attendees chatted away while browsing through the store’s diverse music selection. For the record store’s general manager, Sarah Sexton, this new space is all about bringing together musicians that “really showcased the diversity and range of the artists in the Bay Area,” she said.

Oakland means the world to Jazz on the Sidewalk’s front man Ajai Kasim, a student at Oakland School for the Arts. He feels that Bandcamp is helping the city’s artistic creators cultivate a strong arts scene.

The unique record store is located on 19th and Broadway, and will serve as a creative hub for local artists.

“I don’t know what I’d be without Oakland, California,” Kasim said. “Oakland’s going through a lot of changes you know, a lot of white corporations coming up and gentrifying things, and I feel like this [store] is going to bring some culture back.”

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