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Cassettes Are Back, and Booming (fastcompany.com)

Posted by msmash on from the how-about-that dept.

Long time reader harrymcc writes: By now, it isn't news that vinyl albums continue to sell, even in the Spotify era. But a new report says that sales of music on cassette are up 140 percent. The antiquated format is being embraced by everyone from indie musicians to Eminem and Justin Bieber. Fast Company's John Paul Titlow took a look at tape's unexpected revival, and why it's not solely about retro hipsterism.

16 of 564 comments (clear)

  1. It IS hipsterism (if that's a word) by sjbe · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The antiquated format is being embraced by everyone from indie musicians to Eminem and Justin Bieber. Fast Company's John Paul Titlow took a look at tape's unexpected revival, and why it's not solely about retro hipsterism.

    There is no reason to use tape aside from "retro hipsterism". (isn't that redundant?) Tape sucks on SO many levels. Anyone who thinks it doesn't isn't old enough to have had to live with tapes. I can see it being kind of novel to someone once or twice but the charm will wear off fast. Seriously, tape has some use cases but playing music shouldn't be one of them. We used it back in the day because there wasn't anything better available.

    1. Re:It IS hipsterism (if that's a word) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Sorry, it's not a complete explanation.

      I'm an indy musician.

      I don't have a lot of cash, and I don't have a lot of sales.

      Unit for unit, on small runs, cassette tape is WAY cheaper than any other medium.

      Cassette audio fidelity (or lack thereof) is a fine match for my typical output.

      And for people who want digital fidelity, I include a slip of paper with a download code.

      But yes, from a marketing and artistic standpoint, having a physical product on offer for those who want it is important, and no, streaming and digital downloads alone don't satisfy that need.

      Yes, I was around for cassettes the first time. I was around before CDs. I know all the arguments, and have lived through them. Your casual dismissal is just incorrect.

    2. Re:It IS hipsterism (if that's a word) by ZorinLynx · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Oh gods this is so true.

      I grew up in the 80s and 90s and cassettes were my main music format at the time.

      The hiss. The tape becoming damaged now and then resulting in parts of your songs being screwed up. The poor speed regulation on many tape decks. The felt pad under the tape becoming damaged or falling out and having to replace it, hoping not to damage the tape in the process. The tape getting "eaten" by the deck. The fact that almost all prerecorded tapes were made with the lowest quality tape possible (low bias, non-metal), so you didn't even get the best quality tape could provided from your music purchases.

      Heck, the technology itself was a hack. Cassettes were originally meant for low fidelity voice dictation.

      Cassettes have literally NOTHING to offer except the nostalgia. If you want a physical copy of your music, CDs are the way to go. If you want to be retro-hipster, vinyl is far better in audio quality and durability. Tapes are a clusterfuck and I remember RELISHING the day I got a CD player and didn't have to deal with them for my new music purchases.

    3. Re:It IS hipsterism (if that's a word) by dejitaru · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Technically yes if you are recording live to a cassette, because you just need a tape deck and a microphone. With CDs, you still need a computer, software to record the audio, etc.

      Now with that being said, he said he also includes a "download code", hence he recorded it to a computer and uploaded, so I have no idea why he would go the tape route unless he wanted to appear retro-cool

    4. Re:It IS hipsterism (if that's a word) by amicusNYCL · · Score: 5, Insightful

      "It's nice to only be able to listen to what's in front of you, instead of having the entirety of music at your fingertips with Spotify and all that"

      Right, and when I go to lunch I prefer to go to the convenience store where I only have the pre-made sandwiches in the cooler to choose from. That's also "nice". When I can pick from anything I want I just get confused. I prefer it when my choices are today's ham and swiss or yesterday's ham and swiss. Sometimes I pick yesterday's ham and swiss because I appreciate the retro taste of it, I like that the bread just feels warm and fuzzy (where it isn't soggy). I also avoid online dating, when I want a date I go to the closest cheap bar and think it's nice that I'm only able to pick from the selection of women at the bar, I appreciate their retro ages. Sometimes I pick the one without a disease, but I always appreciate a retro penicillin shot.

      --
      "Our two-party system is like a bowl of shit looking at itself in a mirror." - Lewis Black
    5. Re:It IS hipsterism (if that's a word) by MightyYar · · Score: 5, Funny

      You are worried that people might not be able to play a CD-RW, but you seem unconcerned that people need a find a working tape deck?

      --
      W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
    6. Re:It IS hipsterism (if that's a word) by MightyYar · · Score: 5, Funny

      3M makes a variety of copyright circumvention adhesive tapes.

      --
      W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
    7. Re:It IS hipsterism (if that's a word) by tsotha · · Score: 5, Funny

      Yeah, it makes no sense. But he's a musician, not an accountant.

  2. Fake news? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Is this what they mean by fake news?

  3. Re:In this economy? by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Who has disposable income?

    You can buy a used cassette player at a garage sale for like 25 cents. The seller will throw in a pile of cassettes for free. Those of us old enough to remember the 1970s look at cassettes as garbage to be disposed of. There is no rational reason to use them, and the only reasons listed in TFA are BS like being "tangible", as if having physical clutter in your life is a good thing. Also, stupid metrics like "up 140%" are meaningless without giving the base number, which TFA doesn't.

  4. I suppose it was Guardian of the Galaxy that .... by lkroll4565 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    .....started this craze. lol :)

  5. Actual Numbers by tranZent · · Score: 5, Informative
    From the actual report

    There were 11,489 cassettes purchased during the Holiday Season (an increase of 140% over 2015).

  6. Re:In this economy? by drkoemans · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Clearly you haven't been paying attention. If you find a cassette deck for $.25 I strongly suggest you pick it up and throw it on ebay. My broken tape deck is selling in the neighborhood for $100 on ebay currently. I tried to buy an old 4 track recorder to salvage some band recordings I made in my teen years and I couldn't justify the expense at the current rate. They are selling for as much used as I paid for them new 25 years ago. http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html...

  7. Re:In this economy? by drkoemans · · Score: 5, Insightful

    For a machine that will likely have had no maintenance and many consumable parts? If you don't mind paying half price adjusted for inflation for a used machine I've got 2000 Toyota Camry for sale right right now. Adjusted for inflation from what I paid new 2000 ($24,000) at half price (adjusted) that comes to $16,000. Current blue book is about $3000. I've probably got a washer/dryer set in a similar vintage I'm willing to make that same sweetheart deal on.

    The internet is full of comments like yours so I'll pretend to take you seriously for a second. I think the reason the price is so high right now (whereas they were pennies on the dollar a few years ago) is obviously the market is hot but more importantly there is a scarcity problem. My very high end Sony ES apparently died without me realizing it despite being kept in a production setting, though never used. So many of the rubber and plastic parts have degraded on these machines in 20 or more years that many of them didn't make it into the new century. That of course and many probably went into the dust bin long ago.

  8. Re:In this economy? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Even if you want your music to pass through a "make it sound like shit" filter that is an analog cassette player, you should just run it through once and record the output onto your computer. (Bonus points if you just hold your phone up and use Voice Memo recording for extra shit sound.)

    Then you can play it on your digital music player or phone without worrying about skips, while enjoying your godawful tastes in music.

  9. Re:In this economy? by Migraineman · · Score: 5, Informative

    Well...let's see an uncompressed, unfiltered, band-unlimited, DRM-less analog audio stream from a cassette, ...

    Clearly you've never mastered audio for cassette output. Typical compact cassette tape will start rolling-off around 12-14kHz; chrome tape will get you 16kHz; metal will get you close to 20kHz. Tape ain't the holy grail, as limitations of the medium impose compression, filtering, and band limitation (just in the analog domain.)

    I just checked, and I can get 100 CD-Rs for $12 retail all day long. So my band can release a single on CD in an audio-CD format, or as a data disc with a raw uncompressed bit file. I can master this from the kitchen of my apartment, just like the article says.

    In spite of the article claiming "this isn't another display of analog hipsterism," oh yes it is.