Andreas Kohl

Growing up behind the Iron Curtain with a suspiciously large dose of rock ’n’ roll, his path was probably set early on. By the time MC5 blasted from a wooden cassette player in a field during his teenage years, there was little hope left.

Since the early 1990s, he has worked in almost every corner of the independent music world: promoting shows, publishing fanzines, writing for VISIONS Magazine, working in PR at EFA Distribution, touring as a musician, and founding Exile On Mainstream and Southern Records Germany. Apparently, one job in music was never quite enough.

Over the years, his focus increasingly shifted toward vinyl, first at Optimal Media and later as European Operations Manager at Key Production Ltd. Since 2024, he has been Director of the Making Vinyl Europe Conference, Editor-in-Chief of Making Vinyl Magazine and a contributor to MINT—providing several professional excuses to keep talking about records.

When he’s not doing that, he builds speaker cabinets, climbs mountains, or skis back down them. Music—and the people who make it—still rank pretty high on the list.