The day is finally here! Cassette Store Day 2016 is taking place
at record shops all over the world today with exclusive releases celebrating
the medium that is the cassette tape.
Back in August, Vinyl Bay 777 gave
you our preliminary take on some of the top Cassette
Store Day releases coming out, citing rereleases from the likes of the
Ramones, Death Cab for Cutie and Heavens to Betsy, as well as compilations from
Burger Records and J Dilla. Now in its fourth year, Cassette Store Day has more
than 160 releases available with stores in the US, UK, Australia, New Zealand,
Germany, France and Japan participating. A full list of releases can be found
on the event’s website.
Now that it looks like Cassette Store Day has become the
next big thing in celebrating physical music, let Vinyl Bay 777 tell you a
little more about the event. Here are seven facts you should know about today’s
event.
1.
It is NOT Record Store Day: The concept might
sound similar, but they were started by different people for different reasons.
Record Store Day came first to recognize small record shops and the music,
artists and music fans that make the music scene so special. Cassette Store Day
was modeled after RSD, and even named after it, but its initial intent was to
help bring back the cassette tape.
2.
It is still about stores, sort of: While not
really about stores, there is an element of wanting people to buy releases in
person. In a 2013 interview with Billboard, CSD co-founder Steve Rose said of
keeping the word “store” in the title: “Really,
we kept the store part as we wanted the day to be more about shops and less
about online.”
3.
You Can Buy Exclusives Online Too: When Cassette
Store Day first began, like Record Store Day, a store couldn’t put a release on
their website until a week after the event. Now, you can buy an exclusive
release from your favorite record store’s online shop as well as in-store.
4.
It is working: Cassette Store Day really has
helped, in some way, re-launch the popularity of cassette tapes. They are more
widely available than they were four years ago. Cassettes still have a long way
to go before they reach the level of return that vinyl has seen, but that is
why there continues to be a need for Cassette Store Day.
5.
It started in the UK: Cassette Store Day was
started by three labels in the UK: Sexbeat Records, Suplex Cassettes and
Kissability. These were the ones that put out the first 50 releases in 2013.
6.
It wasn’t always this international: The first
Cassette Store Day occurred only in the UK and US. Even in the US, CSD was
limited to just two events; one at LA’s Burger Records and the other at Silent
Barn in Brooklyn.
7.
It had big name artist support from the start: While
mostly about indie labels and indie bands, there were still big name artists
within 2013’s initial releases. Of the 50 exclusives put out, The Flaming Lips,
Deerhunter, Haim and F***ed Up all had titles included. The next year included
titles from artists such as The Gaslight Anthem, Julian Casablancas, Karen O
and They Might Be Giants.
Cassette Store Day is on the brink
of helping the physical medium of the cassette tape make the same return as
vinyl has in the last 10 years. Through exclusive releases, it is making
shopping for cassettes fun and interesting again. There will always be a market
for physical, tangible music and events like CSD and Record Store Day prove
that.
Celebrate Cassette Store Day with
Vinyl Bay 777 and vinylbay777.com. Pick up
exclusives from your favorite new artists and reissues from more established
artists. When you’re done, you can browse the store’s selection of new and
used, vinyl records, CDs and cassette tapes.
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