Tomorrow on Cassette

Until the late 2000s, audio cassettes appeared to be on the brink of extinction.

While growing sales numbers for cassette tapes in Western countries since the start of the 2010s have led mass media outlets to declare a general revival of the cassettes, they have been in continuous use in niche DIY music scenes associated with genres such as punk, noise and hip hop since their introduction in the 1960s. Contrary to the popular notion of the cassette tape being a mere addition to the nostalgia-driven 21st-century revival of vinyl records and analogue audio gear in general, the ongoing use of cassette tapes is based on a multitude of complex cultural, economic and material factors that shape it as a hybrid material artefact of current music practices.

This book explores how the cassette tapes' significance as a material tool for expression and social connection perseveres in the 21st-century. Drawing on interviews with 85 experts in DIY music cultures as independent record shop operators, musicians, event promoters, fans and collectors across Japan, Australia and the United States, Cassette Tape explores ongoing phenomena that represent complex forms of cassette tapes' appropriation.