Vinyl records used to be the primary—or only—means for bands and labels to distribute their music and for fans to find, support, and engage with the music they love. However by 1968, it had a solid competitor. Cassette tapes, a compact, cheaper-if-lower-quality alternative, ran in tandem with vinyl, but attracted a slightly different audience. While bigger names on bigger labels could publish on both formats, cassettes opened up an avenue for smaller, scrappier bands to record garage demo tapes, and to even make their own hand-dubbed publishing run. This meant artists could record cassettes of their music on the tape decks they had at home rather than having to commission plants to do so for them. In turn this allowed them to establish fanbases and made being in a band more financially feasible. Suddenly, getting noticed by a major label was not the only way to get your music out there and cassette soon outpaced vinyl. 

 

Another quarter of a decade later, the throne was once again in peril. Compact Discs, a bridge between physical media and the infant stages of the digital era, were as cheap as cassettes with a newer, higher-fidelity sound. Quickly, cars began to be outfitted with disc drives rather than tape decks, and the reign of cassettes was usurped. CDs quietly and unceremoniously faded into oblivion as MP3s and limewire took their place. From there, the music industry decided, the only way to go was streaming.

 

 Streaming sucks. For artists, that is. As a consumer, having access to the world’s library of recorded music for a mere 10 dollars a month is one of the greatest advancements of the 21st century. Spotify, the behemoth of the industry, pays artists fractions of a cent per stream, and all other services follow suit, some less extreme than others. A career in music is a pipe dream for just about every artist creating right now, but the only way to financially support artists is either to buy merch or concert tickets. Fans can also buy their music digitally on Bandcamp, an Oakland-based ‘digital record store’ that allows artists to set prices on their music and list merch. Unfortunately  it has relatively few users compared to industry behemoths like Spotify or Apple Music. Physical media makes up a large portion of artists’ webstores, especially with the relatively novel revival of vinyl, and fans absolutely should be going out of their way to buy physical media when they can. It is worth noting, though, that the onus should not rest upon fans. The music industry needs a drastic overhaul of the way music is commodified and engaged with, but that is simply not going to happen. Capitalism detests creativity. 

 

With vinyl once again picking up traction over the past decade, most big-name artists have taken to the trend. This is only possible because indie artists and labels have kept pressing plants’ doors from shuttering in their absence. Herein lies the problem: the rise of massive artists deciding vinyl is once again viable and getting priority from plants, in conjunction with COVID disrupting the supply chains necessary for vinyl, has left small outfits waiting months, even years, after their release for their records to show up. Additionally, vinyl plants hit with rising costs on the front end are offloading that onto artists and labels even after their orders have been placed. This makes doing runs of vinyl increasingly unsustainable without major label backing and thousands of dollars to throw at pressing plants.

So what now? How are indie artists supposed to make any money off of their labor and creativity? What else but cassettes? Cassettes remain cheap to produce, easy to hand-make, and small enough to keep shipping costs low. But, one may wonder, why not CDs? CDs are having a small renaissance of their own, but their proclivity to scratching and relative recency make them less desirable than cassettes for many fans. Their ubiquity still too fresh to have any nostalgia factor, CDs lack the ‘retro’ charm that attracts more mainstream audiences to cassettes.

 

Cassettes also allow fans to support artists without breaking the bank. I have a very large cassette collection, and not one of the contemporary ones I have bought has cost me more than ten dollars before shipping. This is not a unique experience. Although they lack vinyl’s perceived warmth in their sound, the lo-fi filter cassettes give music lends its own unique quality, one some might simply describe as “bad”. They aren’t wrong. But what’s the problem with that? Most people are listening to their records on the internet’s cheapest option for turntables, one with built-in speakers and an unremovable needle (this may or may not be speaking from erstwhile personal experience). Even the platforms many depend on for their music fix compress the files, so the quality of the music they stream is not its best regardless. Cassettes are not worse than any other means of music listening, at least not enough to disqualify their positives. The time is nigh for a cassette revival. As vinyl gets further and further out of reach, more artists should and will begin to pivot towards tapes, and fans should prepare to get on board. You can very easily buy a walkman or something of its ilk online, at thrift stores, or even at (god forbid) Urban Outfitters. For those looking for something higher quality and compatibility with speaker systems, a tape deck can easily be found at the former two options as well. Cassette or not, support the artists you love. Touring is a minefield of getting sick right now considering the waning COVID restrictions on both state and federal levels, but almost every artist you listen to will have merch available online and if you want to keep the music you like around, this is how you do so.

 

 While I argue not only the necessity but inevitability of a cassette revival, the DIY and indie scenes have cultivated a thriving tape underground over the past decade and a half that has laid the very foundation of it. Here is a list of ten tape-based labels I personally love and think deserve your support. Discover something new, or buy an album you already love. 

 

Article by Walker Price

Photo by Walker Price

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