Tomorrow on Cassette: Tape Jams in the New Media Age

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Dr. Benjamin Duester (Resident Adjunct, Georg August University of Göttingen, Germany)

Tomorrow on Cassette

Tape Jams in the New Media Age

Dr. Benjamin Duester (Resident Adjunct, Georg August University of Göttingen, Germany)

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Hardback

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English

Bloomsbury Academic USA
12 June 2025

Social & cultural history; Media studies; Music industry; Impact of science & technology on society

Growing sales numbers for cassette tapes in the Global North since the early 2010s have led mass media outlets to repeatedly proclaim a tape revival.

Yet, the grassroots projects of devotees in niche punk, noise and hip-hop DIY music scenes have continuously upheld the unique material benefits of cassettes while wider society considered them a relic of bygone times. Contrasting the popular notion of current cassette use being a mere side effect of the blazing interest in the vinyl record, this book argues that the lasting embrace of tapes is based on complex cultural, economic and material factors that shape cassettes as hybrid artefacts of music in the new media age.

Drawing on interviews with 85 experts active in DIY music cultures as independent record shop operators, musicians, event promoters, fans and collectors across Japan, Australia and the United States, Tomorrow on Cassette presents a seminal exploration of how the cassette tape’s significance as a tool for material expression, creativity and sociality perseveres in the 21st-century.

By: Dr. Benjamin Duester (Resident Adjunct Georg August University of Göttingen Germany)
Imprint: Bloomsbury Academic USA
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 230mm, Width: 158mm, Spine: 22mm
Weight: 500g
ISBN: 9798765105948
Pages: 248
Publication Date: 12 June 2025
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Introduction: Dear Cassette, it is too late for a love letter… Part 1: Checking the Inventory: Production and Distribution of Cassettes in the 21st Century 1. Pathways into the 21st Century: A brief History of Tapes 2. The Cassette Revival: Substantial Resurgence or Temporary Fad? 3. Current Cassette Supply and Distribution Part 2: The Cassette as Material Memento in the Digital Age 5. Cassettes Against Music Streaming? 6. Precarious Listening: The Problematics of Cassette Players 7. The Material Dichotomies of Music: A Visual Turn of the Tape Part 3: The Cassette as Cultural Currency 8. Cassettes and Hybridity 9. Cassettes ‘Big in Japan’ 10. Cassette Store Day Epilogue: The Future of the Cassette Tape or: The Plastic Fantastic Dilemma Bibliography Index

Benjamin Duester is a cultural sociologist interested in the intersection of popular music, material culture and political ecology. He is an ERC-fellow in musicology at Georg August University of Göttingen, Germany, and a co-founder of the international skate research network SSHRED (Skateboarding, Sustainability, Health Research and Environmental Design) for which he co-convenes the SSHRED seminar series.

Reviews for Tomorrow on Cassette: Tape Jams in the New Media Age

Tapes Forever! Obsolete Never! With Tomorrow on Cassette, Duester sends the audiocassette tape reeling into the future of physical sound media, while keeping an ear to the deep reverberations of its undergrounds, past and present. * David Novak, Associate Professor, UC Santa Barbara, USA, and is author of Japanoise: Music at the Edge of Circulation * Ben Duester debunks the revivalist discourse surrounding cassettes by reminding us how they’ve persisted not just in language classes, prisons, or religious ministries but countless DIY music scenes. At the same time, Duester shows how the format has taken on a surprising new cast in the digital mediascape, valued not just as an attractive container for a download code but precisely for its noisy charm, stubborn temporality, and exclusive demand on the listener’s attention. This is the most complete account yet published of the cassette’s postmillennial resonance. * Rob Drew, Professor of Communication, Saginaw Valley State University, USA, and is author of Unspooled: How the Cassette Made Music Shareable *