I know what you’re thinking, “Cassettes!? What's he talking about? That goes against everything that the mass media has ever taught us.” Perhaps you prefer the clean shine and clear sound of of digital CDs or the DJ friendly, more hip analog vinyl disks. Compact Discs represent the present standard of what the future looks like to the average person these days. Vinyl is more affordable than CDs, so that the music addicts and collectors can buy twice as much, which. for this reason, lends itself well to more underground music scenes.
Sure, there are other superior sound formats for quality, but as far as buying prerecorded music goes, there’s really no other contenders (as much as Sony mini-discs tried to start something). The key word though is convenience. In mainstream music the cassette is already dead, only select titles are even available on cassette anymore. The linearity of cassettes makes it less convenient for instantly reaching a desirable song, for tape mix making, playing for a friend, or just getting to your favorite song. Especially for DJing, which is more popular now than ever, the cassette is relatively obsolete. It’s inconvenient to use, a pain to cue and you certainly can’t scratch.
Anyone can produce multiple copies of their music on cassette though. The problem being that it takes less effort and money, therefore there’s less quality control. Also, the larger disc format requires bigger pictures for packaging, which is always more pleasing to the eye.
On the flipside though, cassettes are smaller and lighter, making them easier to store and transport. They can travel lightly and compactly in a walkman without skipping. For a small record label they are also cheaper to ship and mail. They even fit in your pocket when you are on the go. Cassettes also take less initial capitol. You can make as few as you need, when you need them, instead of having to make at least 500 to start for $1200. Therefore, the cassette creator can afford to take more risks without losing all of their savings, catering to more experimenting and independent attitudes. They can afford to sell them at very little more than cost since the run is so small.
An outsider can introduce themselves to five new bands on a cassette label, take risks on unknown bands on a label like Shrimper for the same price of buying one regularly priced CD at Tower Records that they were only able to hear the one hit song of on the radio anyway. Just because it costs less doesn’t mean that the artist is necesarily putting less time into creating real music. It’s also an easy way to get introduced to new music, either through tape labels or the ubiquitous mix tape. Think of how many people could care less about Beck’s Golden Feelings when it came out years ago for $3 ppd on a home based cassette label. Now some of those same people would pay ten times that today for bootleg copies of those songs. The cassette is more disposable, but yet when not mass produced can also be more personal.
All the different forms of media have their place though. I listen to cassettes on my boom box, then at work I listen to CDs all day, when I come home I listen to vinyl in my bedroom or a CD while I eat dinner. So even if the lowly cassette isn’t exclusively the ultimate medium, just remember that it still has it’s place.