Return of the Cassette Tape

[Evil Eye]

It's back and hungers for your brains!

The humble cassette tape, a happy memory for many music fans of a certain age, has staged a comeback for one Canadian company.

The first order came in 1989: 10 cassettes. With that began Analogue Media Technologies, a company created to help bands market their music.

Musicians would bring finished master recordings and graphic design templates, and Analogue, now also called Duplication.ca, would turn those materials into slickly produced albums, complete with labels, cover art and liner notes, ready for sale or distribution.

"We've changed products depending on what's been in style and what the demand is for," says Denise Gorman, part-owner of the Montreal-based company.

It started with cassettes and vinyl, but then the trends shifted towards CDs, then DVDs and Blu-ray.

Now, they find themselves returning to the medium that started it all.

"We're back to cassettes as one of the main attractions," says Ms Gorman.

Analogue now says that cassette recordings make up 25% of the business. That is quite a change from five years ago, when cassette tapes seemed to be going the way of the defunct 8-track cartridge - the music format that was popular in the 1960s and 70s.
Fiscally sound

Audio purists love the analogue sound that comes from the classic cassette.

"Digital will always be ones and zeros," says Fernando Baldeon, a sales consultant at Analogue. "Analogue is still the best sound from a recording."

Vinyl, the purist's darling, has that sound, but it also has a hefty price tag - C$14.10 ($13.80; £9.09) per record for a set of 100, compared to C$1.29 for cassettes. Although cassettes are still slightly more expensive to produce than CDs, they add value for many of what Mr Baldeon calls "lo-fi" bands: punk, hip hop, metal and experimental groups.

"Clearly MP3s exist," says Craig Proulx, one half of the Ottawa-based record label Bruised Tongue. "I get it. I have an iPhone. But where's the fun in that?"

Bruised Tongue mostly produces punk bands, and Mr Proulx says the do-it-yourself aesthetic of the music make a good fit for cassette tapes. But the decision for him isn't just artistic, it's financial.

"In the past I've pressed records myself and they're nothing but trouble," he says.

The minimum number of records needed to complete a small order was still too much for him to sell. Tapes can be made quickly and cheaply without amassing too much overhead.

"Working on a local level, releasing cassettes is what makes sense."

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-22533522


Any cassette lovers out there?

 

[Nebulous's iconNebulous]

I have an 8-track player! I still use it to listen to AM/FM radio sometimes, its an antique.
No cassette player though.

My brothers friends loves records / vinyl and has a huge collection. I think he's been able to find some new albums made in the present-day on records too.

 

[Evil Eye]

Do you have any 8-tracks to go with it?

I actually have a radio/cassette player/CD player, it's more than 10 years old already. I didn't buy it with Euros

 

[Jazzy]

I have a VersaCorder that uses cassettes to tape conversations. If someone is going to give me detailed instructions or directions, I tape it. I first ask them permission to do so. Shame the dang thing won't play music cassettes.

 

[Nebulous's iconNebulous]

Do you have any 8-tracks to go with it?

No. It would be cool to have some though.

 

[Evil Eye]

Shame the dang thing won't play music cassettes.

Why doesn't it?

No. It would be cool to have some though.

You should find some!

 

[Nebulous's iconNebulous]

Maybe they have some at the thrift store, Ive always wondered if the 8 track part still works