SMALL BUSINESS | Geo's Music Owner's goal of leading a band led to success

He opened his music store to make contacts.
By TRACEY D'ASTOLFO
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
YOUNGSTOWN -- For George Case, music is everything.
Case owns Geo's Music, a store in downtown Youngstown that carries used and new CDs, records and cassettes, and DVD and VHS movies. It stocks music by independent, local and regional artists and specializes in imports and hard-to-find items, ordering a lot of items from overseas.
"We carry [music] the chain stores won't touch. We will carry any legitimate, copywritten CD. It doesn't have to have a bar code, but it can't be burned," Case said.
But the store is just part of Case's music endeavors. Case is also the lead singer for local funk band, Geo C. and Tha Storm, and he has plans to broadcast a radio station from Geo's Music as early as October.
Case credits his parents with landing him where he is now, instilling in him a combination of his mother's love for the arts, especially music, with his father's strong work ethic.
After attending Youngstown State University and operating a restaurant on the North Side, Case, who began singing when he was 2, decided he would prefer to work in the music industry.
Making contacts
Case's ultimate goal was to lead a successful band, but he decided to open a music store first to make contacts who might help him.
"So this is where my father's workman approach comes in. I decided I wanted to make a band, so how do I do it? I decided to open up a record store and then I'd get to know all these people. The reason I did this is so I can have the band, because I knew I had to get into the music to get into the music," he said.
Case opened the store seven years ago and plans to stay at his current location. Although it's a small store, it has many different titles and types of music, including rock, blues, funk, reggae, gospel, country-western, jazz, R & amp;B and calypso.
Good philosophy
Case said his store and his band reflect his philosophy on life, as will the future radio station.
"I'm trying to do something I really believe in. I built a store and a band that's all about positivity and ... it's going to continue right into the radio station. We'll play what we want to play. There will be no cussing or derogatory remarks. I won't play [songs that encourage drug use]," Case said.
Case said he'd like to invest the money he makes at the store in the community eventually.
"If you work hard, you can make a lot of money doing something you love in Youngstown. If I make it, I intend to improve my neighborhood and help the people," he said. "You can call this a dream, but it keeps becoming more of a reality as we get this music out. This little store spawned the band, which will now spawn a radio station. It's all intertwined."