I don't really like them but I listen to Aaron Dilloway/Spine Scavenger a lot and sometimes it's the only format that music is available in.

they are coming back? but in the early 2000s yes i still used one because the internet capabilities were shit back then and not many other options.

For the same reasons that vinyl has become popular again: hipsters, nostalgia, and collectors.

Burger records releases stuff exclusively on cassette but you have to be a mega hipster from california to be into that

The real reason is because they are the cheapest physical way to release your music. Tons of bands that otherwise wouldn't be considered for vinyl/cd releases by a label can get put out their own tapes for cheap

They are cheap and very easy to press, smaller than other formats as well. Smaller groups will press them.
Their "vintage" status is growing.
Physical media in general is not a meme.

I would buy them, but they are sort of a ticking time bomb since they warp over time.

there's a ton of artists who have 0 cassette releases, so you can bootleg them

Yes, a lot of people own cassette decks and buy cassettes. If you live in a city that has any sort of local music scene at all you know that bands don't have the money to press vinyl.

>>66317542
how much cheaper is cassette recording than burning cds? cds are cheap as shit to burn

>>66316972
>>66317451
Where are you that this is true? The last tape distribution center in this state shut down a few years ago now. Replicating tape is significantly more costly than CDs as a result.

Tapes and 7" releases have been going around underground music scenes here for years but it's always been because people take the word tape in demo tape too seriously or just because.

I don't really care what media people release music on and most of these bands have Bandcamp pages too but they're definitely paying a premium to have these tapes made.

I work at a thrift store chain and the usual people who look at the shelf of cassettes are either old men in their 50s or hipsters in their 20s.

>>66317567
I make tapes for bands with full color J-Cards, clear jewel cases, and the cassette themselves for about $2.50 a tape. Plus, nobody buys CDs.

>>66317567
Cardboard sleeve cds are similarly priced with cass, i think jewel case and digipack are more though. Cds project a cheap image too, cassette is more intimate.

>>66316918
Vinyl has come back because of hipsters AND the lovely uncompressed sound. Cassettes are coming back because of fucking post-punk hipsters alone.

In a collection sense I mean you can pickup a lot of 90's demo tapes and early albums that way, in addition to shit that the musician didn't have the money to throw on a cd or wax. Then it just becomes a thing to get, I mean there's cases where some countries aren't as digital either, some of my russian bm is sorta like that I guess.

>>66317606
that makes sense, cds are ugly

>>66316918
Vinyl has its merits though. Tapes are the '128 mp3s shared through limewire' of the 80's.

>>66317758
I don't think is true at all

>>66317577
I pay $100 for 50 tapes and with cases and dub myself then sell them for $7. That's a $250 profit

>>66317758
Tapes sound great if you have the gear for them.

They're cheap and sound like shit.

>>66317834
> This

As someone who's done this stuff, investing in bands to make and sell their merch, the hardest part is actually selling, if this wasn't a passion it wouldn't be worth the money I drop

>>66316773
Because I still drive a 1998 Subaru Forester

>>66317834
You're basically proving my point. With the distribution center gone they pay someone $7 a tape to get them made.

>>66317993
How tf did he prove your point? He just explained that he can get cassettes for a very low price (much less than CDs) and makes back 250% of his money selling them

>>66318759
Because it's pretty rare for bands to be buying blank tapes and doing it themselves. They're paying someone to do it and making very little if any profit margin.

Are there people who do replicate themselves and make a decent return? Sure. Is it common? No.

As for price, much less than CDs? $100 for 50 tapes is much more expensive than CDs. 50 blank CDs is the equivalent of about $7.50 US here.

I'm sure it differs depending on where you are but here bands are paying a premium to get tapes out.

>>66316773
they're cheap and they have the underground hipster "gimmick" vinyl has going for it