Vinylogue
Soledad Rodríguez Zubieta
The Argentine selector’s intentional approach, whether in her listening room or an expansive warehouse, invites listeners to connect and feel the story within each record.
Don’t call Soledad Rodríguez Zubieta a DJ. She prefers the term “Selector — a small, but important distinction.
The Argentine artist, entrepreneur, and influencer has built a career through careful, intentional curation. After earning a psychology degree from The University of Buenos Aires, she worked in radio at 95.9 FM, managed festival events, and founded Modular, a bespoke music curation company catering to brands, restaurants, and hotels around the world.
Behind the decks, she’s played internationally, performing in cities like New York, Miami, Madrid, and South America. If you’re outside Buenos Aires, you might know her from Instagram. As of publication, Zubieta, who uses the tag “SRZ” for most of her artistic work, has amassed 212,000 followers in just a few years of serious engagement.
“I’m rational. I don’t want to make my collection grow by buying everything. No, it’s very curated. It’s like every record there has a story.”
Soledad Rodríguez Zubieta
Her curatorial eye extends to social media, where followers ire her mid-century modern listening room in a recently renovated 1920s, English-style home. The space has all the makings of eye candy — hundreds, perhaps thousands of records placed on custom-built block shelving, warm lamp lighting, a speaker visualizer, and the must-have for any vibey listening room — an Eames chair (she’s not afraid to it it’s a replica, she’d rather spend the money on records.) In what appears to be a separate area of her home, there are 4,000-5,000 CDs beautifully cataloged along the length of a wall.
People aren’t just drawn to her space — Zubieta also serves as a go-to source for music discovery. She regularly shares album recommendations, curating selections under different themes. In one video, she highlights rising Brazilian artists like La Sobrecarga — her longtime white whale. “I found it by chance at a fair in a park, at a good price, and I even knew the seller, who gave me a discount. Absolute happiness when something like that happens.”
Curating comes naturally to her — it’s in her DNA. She has been obsessed with music for as long as she can , shaping her role as a tastemaker since childhood.
“I was the one making mixtapes for friends, always wanting to share music,” Zubieta said. “That’s the motivation behind what I do. I try to what first drove me — loving a song so much that I wanted others to feel the same way. It’s nice to keep that in mind because, in the end, that’s still what I do at work and on social media.”
Zubieta’s collecting journey began as soon as she had her own money. As a teenager in the ’90s, she spent her entire first paycheck on CDs. At the time, Argentina produced few records, importing them was difficult, and, like much of the world, CDs dominated music consumption.
In those early years, she fell in love with the popular alternative and electronic records of the time — Charly García as a fundamental record, calling it “probably the best Latin American rock album in history,” a favorite since childhood.
In her late teens and early twenties, Zubieta began traveling, using these trips to stock up on CDs amid Argentina’s strict import restrictions.
“I used to travel with friends as a teenager — we went to Europe for two months with our backpacks,” she said. “I came back with mine full of CDs.”
Though CDs were her main focus, vinyl always fascinated her.
“I was always drawn to vinyl,” she said. “The larger artwork, the texture — it was seductive.”
After years of building a massive CD collection, starting a vinyl collection seemed overwhelming. Where would she even begin? Beyond that, buying records presented its own challenges. Argentina’s political and economic landscape made acquiring LPs difficult.
Few pressing plants operated in the country, and high import taxes discouraged music stores from stocking records. As a result, Argentina had little vinyl culture at the time. Without a scene, there was limited knowledge on how to get records or navigate restrictions.
Zubieta says Argentines are used to these challenges, which ultimately made building her collection even more meaningful. Her solution? Travel.
“I used to travel [as a teenager] with friends — and we went to Europe for two months with our backpacks. I came with my backpack full of CDs.”
Soledad Rodríguez Zubieta
“We’re used to it. It’s a little sad, but in Argentina, we’re resourceful because we’re always finding ways to do things in a difficult context,” she said. “We create because it’s a challenge… It’s not like being in the States or Europe. We couldn’t shop internationally. So, I traveled — a lot. That was my advantage. I knew which sellers brought records from Europe, but you had to dig through massive catalogs to find what you wanted. Building a collection took work, but that effort made it even more special.”
Eventually, she took the leap. It started during a trip to London in 1998 when she stumbled upon Echo & The Bunnymen.
“I couldn’t resist that magical, magnetic cover,” she recalls.
From there, she started buying more. As she traveled, she picked up more records. Whereas with CDs, she could purchase more, vinyl was pricier and more difficult to lug home, so she aimed for quality over quantity. In those early years, she focused on classics — not just the Pop for goth rock, for example.
“I’m rational. I don’t want to make my collection grow by buying everything. No, it’s very curated. It’s like every record there has a story,” she said.
Around this time, her career also provided unique experiences. In the early 2000s, while working with a concert production company, Zubieta saw James Murphy and sent him photos from the show. One of those photos ended up on the interior of one version of the album’s physical release.
As the years ed and her collection grew, so did the vinyl scene in Buenos Aires. Records became more accessible, both in stores and online — something that once seemed impossible. More recently, Zubieta has noticed a rise in young people spinning records exclusively during DJ sets around the city.
Listening bars have also increased, with spots like Black Forest, GrisGris, AVG Electric Café, Mixtape, and Bimbi Nilo gaining popularity. She’s friends with many of the owners and even performs at some of these venues. In addition, more record stores are opening, and one she recommends as a must-visit for anyone coming to Buenos Aires is AZ Discogs.
“[It’s] owned by Javier Zuker and Carlos Alfonsín, both renowned DJs and collectors in Argentina, and Javier is a friend! It’s the record store they opened in their home — an amazing catalog run by its owners, who are true connoisseurs.”
Thanks to a larger budget and eased restrictions on free-market trade in Argentina, Zubieta no longer needs to be as selective when buying records. With countless shops and a thriving community in Buenos Aires, vinyl is easier to find than ever. Still, the records that hold the most meaning for her are those she’s picked up on her travels or those with deeply personal stories.
One such memory comes from 2019 in Lisbon, when she learned of The Party’s Over, with that face and a tear on the cover. It was incredibly emotional. I didn’t have that album on vinyl, and now it’s part of my collection. That’s one of the marvels of records — the stories they carry.”
A Human Touch
Parallel to, and partly inspired by, her collecting journey, Zubieta launched her company, Modular, to professionalize her hobby. While she had experience in radio, building a career in Argentine radio was difficult, even in the mid-2000s and early 2010s. Today, musical branding and supervision companies are common, but back then, especially in Argentina, Zubieta was one of the few in the field.
“Fifteen years ago, nobody understood the idea of working with brands, restaurants, and different spaces to create a unique musical identity for each one,” she said. “I know there are a lot of companies doing this now, but what sets my work apart is that it’s truly customized. It’s not an algorithm. It’s personal work — carefully selecting each song.”
Other early ventures included El Guincho.
Her curation approach is driven by intention and visualization. While open to owner suggestions, she favors working with concepts and identities — almost crafting a musical identity. Drawing from her experience, she believes that all brand guides should incorporate music, a kind of secret ingredient to elevate the experience into a third dimension.
“I like it when they challenge me,” she said. “What I love about my job is when I get a very specific or unique request — it makes me study, dive deep, and discover new music. I love that. There are many clients I don’t know well at first, like a hotel that wants jazz but not the classic kind. That pushes me to explore new areas, like the fusion between jazz and hip-hop. I’m not an expert, but it’s the perfect excuse to dive in more seriously. It’s all about opening new doors in music.”
Today, Modular has over 40 clients, both in Argentina and abroad.
Zubieta’s success both as an entrepreneur and member of the vinyl community sits at the heart of a flourishing vinyl scene in Buenos Aires. And yet, despite her success, Zubieta maintains that her work is rooted in a simple love for sharing — the same impulse that drove her to make mixtapes for friends as a child, the same thrill she felt when discovering a sought-after record at a foreign street fair, only to haul it halfway across the world back to her turntable.
Interested in reading more about the most influential players in vinyl culture? Check out our features with Steve Aoki.
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