Talking Cassettes and Labels, Specifically Mine

[tristan_geoff]

As the owner of a cassette tape label, I find myself thinking about the resurgence of cassette as a format has been while only mildly nostalgic for me, as I was around them only as a kid before things like CDs and eventually Blu-Ray, streaming, and other formats were introduced to me progressively throughout my growing up; got me thinking about the present state of how the format has gotten to and leaves me with a few different trains of thought:

1st and foremost. Whose buying this garbagio  /jk

jokes aside, cassettes sound terrible!  why have they made a comeback?  well, I think for a few different reasons.  well they're cute, often cheap, and leave a memento of a show you've been to or just like... well I've bought some online before and to be quite honest I just LIKE how bad they sound.  different tones such as the bass are accentuated and crushed on cassettes I've done, there's no way to really replicate tape sound digitally authentically.  somehow, the poor quality is charming in a way that I can only describe as feeling like home.

2nd.  Oh what strengths and challenges I've had

Customers have before sent back entire orders to be refunded because I couldn't give them "quality product" that is, using decades old machinery to try to dub cassettes in the 2020's.  In their defense I didn't sound check those and the ones I did I couldn't have noticed my momo player not doing the stereo that they wanted.  However, with those faulty orders came many many successful ones, I am now on and past my 50th release as a label, people have used them to get money while on tour and I've helped expose many artists that were otherwise (and still are) obscure by giving them the chance to be heard by my fan base and people that stumble upon them, while also giving their friends the chances to hear them on a unique format!

3rd. Where's the future headed?

For my label, a yearly festival is what I want out of the artists I rounded up.  Doing the first festival in March of this year, wish me luck.  But the future of cassettes is something else that I think about that I reckon only time will tell.

[Guybrush]

Remembering cassettes from my childhood, I can't say I miss them personally. Although my worst memories wasn't music, but cassettes as a medium for commodore 64 games. Gods damned unreliable with awful load times.

What's the name of your label?

[tristan_geoff]

omg how did I miss this

My label is called Walk-In Closet Records, we have operated since 2018.  Originally I did it with a bandmate, then by myself, and now I work with a friend who lives in Western NC (Me being in the piedmont) to fulfill large orders but we're virtually doing different things altogether and work together in a loose sense.

We put on our festival in March 2023 and it went super well as in being a fun time.  Otherwise, the attendance was super spotty, people coming only for acts they wanted to see at the lake.  There was some incredible music played though, and the local college radio station backed it.  Due to the amount of work involved though I don't think I'll do another one in a while.

We have signed artists originally that had connections to North Carolina, either by living here or being from here.  We changed after COVID hit to signing out of state and even international artists, but after deleting our bandcamp store we are switching back to a model where we serve the local area (but now do not charge for runs of cassettes, instead offering an honor system base program where they can pay us the cost of the materials ($1 a tape roughly) to fund further cassette runs.

you can find a full discography of our material either at https://www.tumblr.com/walkinclosetrecords (on that link there is a downloadable folder featuring releases that were taken down with our bandcamp page) or https://rateyourmusic.com/label/walk-in-closet-records/2/ that simply lists them

[tristan_geoff]

Ig there's no Forum Member Showcase here and this isn't rlly the correct thread but I'll be damned if I have to make a new one just to post a link

to make it relevant this will be made into a tape relatively soon

Asbestos 1:36,


No Curfew Kids - Asbestos 1:36, "Behold the Lamb of Death"
Genre: Avant-Folk/Experimental/Poetry

I'll have a lot to say about this later, but for now pls listen