Add Category
Updated
You may have thought the cassette tape was dead, relegated to the dustbin of history.
And good riddance. Who in their right mind would want to turn the clock back and resurrect it?
Young, independent artists around Australia do, releasing their music on cassette as well as digitally.
For Perth musician Stella Donnelly, who has just been named triple j's Unearthed Artist of the Year, cassette was a more affordable option than vinyl when it came to releasing her debut EP, Thrush Metal.
"It's all about bringing back that vintage, slow listening kind of thing," she told 7.30.
"Vinyl is very expensive, so for a first EP that would come at a massive cost, and unless you have a big label backing you it's not feasible.
"So I think that's why a lot of people put it out on tape. I think it's a collector's thing. It's that feeling of having something tangible.
"People aren't listening to CDs as much anyway."
Her cassettes, which include a free digital downland, were produced by Melbourne company Healthy Tapes, one of several cassette-focussed labels around Australia.
Creating cassettes is a labour of love for Healthy Tapes' Lee Hannah. Operating from his home studio, he has to record each tape in real time.
Ms Donnelly's tapes sold out so he is planning another run.
"We intended to make 30 to begin with and they've sold out within a couple of days, and so we went on to do five pressings and a total of 250 tapes," he said.
'People love objects'
So what's driving the drift back to cassettes?
"I just think it's an object and people love objects," author and music journalist Stuart Coupe said.
"And I think that's a big part of why vinyl has become so popular again.
"There was something romantic about the cassette that you would give it to someone and go 'This is my favourite, these are the songs'.
"I'm sure a lot of romances started by boy-gives-girl, girl-gives-boy, boy-gives-boy, girl-gives-girl a cassette selection of their favourite tunes."
But he cannot see a lasting revival for the cassette tape despite its charming idiosyncrasies.
"If the cassette revival takes off it will be a boon for people who manufacture pencils, because a pencil was the one thing you had to have nearby with cassettes in case they started to unwind and go everywhere," he said.
"It's cute, it's nostalgic, it's retro. There's certainly something endearing about it. But the other thing I thought was 'Who has a cassette player these days?'"
Perth cassette collector Joseph Walsh does. He bought a double deck stereo cassette player on Gumtree and has collected about 300 cassettes since 2011.
The collection includes one "super rare" tape from the 1980s which he bought for $100 (Runway by New Zealand band The Dead C, in case you were wondering), but more than half of his cassettes are new releases produced by US label Stunned Records.
"It's my favourite medium for certain types of music, namely more experimental music," Mr Walsh said.
"I like mainly the utilitarian aspect of them — cheap and easy to produce and many people dub them themselves.
"Also I enjoy the finite nature. If you listen to something a lot it can warp or even break. It's a nice contrast to today's world where everything is on the internet and stored forever.
"They have a life span."
'Like a little treasure'
At Perth's Rhubarb Records, new releases on cassette by several local bands are prominently displayed alongside an extensive collection of vinyl. There is just one small box of CDs.
The store's Dylan Sainsbury has even found a new brand of cassette player to sell.
"There are companies that still make players," he said.
"Plus you can get refurbished old units. Some of the old Sony Walkmans are getting really collectable, going for hundreds of dollars on eBay."
The demand for cassettes, he said, was mainly coming from the younger generation.
"It's something new to people who didn't grow up with it," he said.
"There's a few of the older crowd but most of them say, 'Those things got destroyed on my dashboard, why do people still want cassettes?' But for the younger generation it's something different. It's got its own sound.
"Most of the cassettes are released in really small runs. If you've got one, it's like a little treasure."
'A very niche fad'
The most recent sales figures available show vinyl has continued its revival, growing by 70 per cent in 2016. CD sales are down by 21 per cent. Digital sales have grown to two-thirds of the market. But there is no mention of cassettes in ARIA's statistics.
"Every bit of me thinks that it has to be a small, very, very, very niche fad," Mr Coupe said.
Mr Hannah of Healthy Tapes disagrees. He has just released Sydney artist Rainbow Chan on cassette and will be releasing Perth/Melbourne band Dianas in December.
"I think there's a lot of chance they [cassettes] are going to stick around," he said.
"I've been doing this for about four years. It's stuck around since then and gotten stronger since, so I can't really see it slowing down any time soon.
"Probably about half the people who buy cassettes don't actually have cassette players. People are buying it to support the artists."
Topics: music, perth-6000
First posted