Cassette Culture 2.0: on How the Cassette Prevails in the Digital Age
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Cassette Culture 2.0: On how the Cassette prevails in the Digital Age Author Duster, Benjamin D Published 2021-06-14 Thesis Type Thesis (PhD Doctorate) School School of Hum, Lang & Soc Sc DOI https://doi.org/10.25904/1912/4230 Copyright Statement The author owns the copyright in this thesis, unless stated otherwise. Downloaded from http://hdl.handle.net/10072/405209 Griffith Research Online https://research-repository.griffith.edu.au Cassette Culture 2.0: On how the Cassette prevails in the Digital Age Benjamin Daniel Düster B. A. (Honours), Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, 2014 M. A., Humboldt University of Berlin, 2017 School of Humanities, Languages and Social Sciences Faculty of Arts, Education and Law Griffith University Queensland, Australia Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy March 2021 Thesis Abstract From the early to mid 2000s, music cassettes appeared to be on the brink of extinction in industrialised nations. Nonetheless, in genres such as Punk, Noise and Hip Hop the format remained in use throughout this time. Growing sales over the past decade have led mass media outlets to declare a general revival of the cassette yet, the reasons for this resurgence remain to be investigated. This investigation is drawing on qualitative ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Japan, Australia and the USA entailing participant observation at various events, concerts and record shops and in-depth expert interviews with a total of 85 individuals involved in DIY cassette cultures. I argue that the cassette’s contemporary function, though in some cases enabling decelerated consumption and face-to-face interaction, is to provide an additional physical artefact of music that is primarily distributed digitally on the internet. This thesis explores how the cassette’s hybrid significance as a tool for expression and social connection perseveres in the 21st century within a locally, translocally, and virtually connected context. Here, grassroots DIY music scenes are creatively processing the challenges of the present, while major music corporations seek to capitalise on these cultural dynamics and embodiments of nostalgia. The core analysis section of the thesis begins with a comparison of the different music markets in Japan, Australia and the United States in order to analyse and relativise the mass- media notion of an overarching ‘cassette revival’. It becomes apparent here, that the cassette is not treated as a fully-fledged audio format perse, but merely as a novelty merchandise item for example, for movie soundtracks such as the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise. Based on this, the material qualities of the cassette that contribute to its current significance are explored. Notably, the consumption of the cassette in the digital age has been subjected to a visual turn, meaning that the format is primarily consumed for its visual and material characteristics and in numerous cases functions as a cultural currency in DIY music scenes that legitimates primarily digitally curated and distributed music projects. Several case studies of cassette labels, cassette- based podcasts and the annual international Cassette Store Day illustrate this aspect and underline the cassette’s technological and cultural hybridity that leads to its numerous appropriations throughout various cultural and social divisions. Finally, by drawing on the practices of DIY cassette recycling and decade-old mixtapes re-appearing as marine debris, environmental aspects of current cassette consumption are taken into consideration in regard to a possible sustainable existence of the format in the future. II Several years back, when I was publishing ARTITUDE/audiofile, I began to believe that if I toiled long enough and dug deep enough, I would eventually become on top of all the ingrowths and outgrowths of the cassette music community. In a way it's comforting to know that no matter how hard you try, you just can't do this; the scope of the community is too vast and volatile. And just when you think you've got it down to something […] some new kid passes you off their new masterpiece and the cards will be thrown up all over again. Carl Howard, Electronic Cottage#1, 1989 III To Thomas Radam, without your friendship, passion, inspiration and encouragement this thesis would not exist. It all began with your Tell Brak Continuum / Steinbeisz tape. IV Statement of Originality This work has not previously been submitted for a degree or diploma in any university. To the best of my knowledge and belief, the thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made in the thesis itself. V Thesis Abstract ................................................................................................................................ II Statement of Originality ................................................................................................................. V Table of Figures ............................................................................................................................. IX Thesis-Related Publications and Presentations .......................................................................... XI Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................................... XII Preface ............................................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 1: Backtracking the Tangled Tracks of Magnetic Tape through History ................... 9 1.1 The Cassette’s Pathway into the 21st Century .................................................................... 9 1.2 The Early Days of the Compact Cassette ......................................................................... 10 1.3 Music Becomes Mobile: The Boombox and the Walkman .............................................. 11 1.4 The Portastudio and the Emergence of Cassette Culture.................................................. 13 1.5 Home Taping and its Legal Consequences ....................................................................... 14 1.6 Tales of the Tape: Writing about Cassette Tapes ............................................................. 16 1.7 Cassettes in Ethnographic Studies: from South-East Asia through Africa to the Caribbean ........................................................................................................................................... 18 1.7.1 Cassettes Catalysing Local Industries and Mediating Local Culture: from Local Production to Trans-Local Distribution ........................................................... 18 1.7.2 Cassette Poetry and Audio Letters of Longing: Negotiating Identity and Circulating Political and Religious Discourse through Audio Tape.................................... 27 1.8 The Cassette ‘back then’ and ‘now’ ................................................................................. 31 1.8.1 Cassette Culture, Bootlegging and Mixtapes ............................................................ 31 1.8.2 Cassettes in Current DIY Music Scenes ................................................................... 34 1.9 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 40 Chapter 2: Conceptual Framework and Research Methods ..................................................... 42 2.1 Scope and Purpose of Study ............................................................................................. 42 2.2 The Field ........................................................................................................................... 46 2.2.1 Participant Selection Process and Description of the Field ...................................... 46 2.2.2 Field Access .............................................................................................................. 48 2.3 The Ethnographic Approach ............................................................................................. 52 2.4 Data Collection ................................................................................................................. 53 2.4.1 Participant Observation and Digital Ethnography .................................................... 53 VI 2.4.2 Autoethnography ...................................................................................................... 55 2.4.3 Interviews.................................................................................................................. 57 2.5 Documentation .................................................................................................................. 62 2.5.1 Ethnography as Writing ............................................................................................ 62 2.5.2 Thick Description ..................................................................................................... 63 2.6 Data Analysis .................................................................................................................... 63 2.6.1 Triangulation ............................................................................................................. 63 2.6.2 Grounded Theory ...................................................................................................... 65 2.6.3 Theoretical Sampling ...............................................................................................