Type Cultural, commercial | Frequency annual | |
 | ||
Observed by Record shops
Audiophiles
Musicians
Record labels Celebrations Live performances, special music releases | ||
Cassette Store Day is an international, annual observance intended to recognise the value of Compact Cassettes as a music format. Cassette Store Day was first held in 2013. The celebration was inspired by Record Store Day, which acknowledges the importance of record stores and the vinyl music format.
Contents
Origin
Cassette Store Day was conceived by a group of record labels based in the UK. In a blog post for NME, BBC Radio 1 DJ Jen Long explained that she collaborated with Steven Rose of Sexbeat Records and Matt Flag of Suplex Cassettes to establish the observance. According to Long, although Cassette Store Day was inspired by Record Store Day, the intention of Cassette Store Day is focused on celebrating cassettes rather than supporting shops—whereas the latter is the main goal of RSD. The first Cassette Store Day was observed on 7 September 2013. More than twenty-eight shops, including Rough Trade in London, participated by stocking special limited-edition cassettes. Some stores also hosted live performances.
Cassette Store Day 2013 releases were led by the labels Sexbeat, Kissability, and Suplex Cassettes. New releases for Cassette Store Day 2013 included albums by Fucked Up and Fair Ohs, as well as cassettes reissues of material by artists including The Flaming Lips, At the Drive-In, and Haim. Despite a major decline in popularity after the introduction of compact discs, cassette sales are slowly increasing along with sales of other analogue formats.
In June 2014, Cassette Store Day confirmed that the observance would continue into a second year. Despite continually unsteady cassette sales in recent years, founder Steve Rose expressed confidence in the cassette tape's "currentness" in the "DIY and underground scenes due to its affordability and ease".
By 2016, shops in the US and UK were joined by participants in Australia, New Zealand, Germany, France, and Japan.
Reception
Founder Steve Rose did not anticipate resounding success for Cassette Store Day. However, he has predicted that the inexpensive and easy manufacturing of cassettes will help to steadily encourage their reintroduction. On the other hand, Bobby Owsinski wrote in Forbes that cassettes were too dilapidated to see the same resurgence as vinyl records.
Writing for Washington City Paper, Sean Gray expressed reservations about Cassette Store Day and Record Store Day. Gray observes that as cassettes and records become more popular, prices may rise to exorbitant rates, making it difficult for collectors to enjoy the formats. Emma Garland of The Four Oh Five stated that while Record Store Day may overshadow small labels and artists, Cassette Store Day gives small labels better access to the celebration of analogue formats.
2013
In 2013, more than 50 cassette editions of releases were issued for Cassette Store Day. The three founding labels, Sexbeat, Kissability, and Suplex, were supplemented by 4AD, Transgressive Records, Bella Union, and other small independent labels. Exclusive releases and reissues included:
2014
Over 300 cassette releases were coordinated for the second Cassette Store Day. Notable releases included:
2015
In 2015, over 100 titles were released exclusively for Cassette Store Day. Shops in the US, UK, Australia, New Zealand, and Germany participated. Exclusive releases included:
2016
Cassette Store Day 2016 was scheduled to take place on October 8. In addition to the original founding labels, CSD was to be led in the US by Burger Records, in Germany by Späti Palace and Mansions and Millions, in France by Balades Sonores, and in Japan by VSI.