Cassette Store Day
| Cassette Store Day | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Observed by |
Record shops Audiophiles Musicians Record labels |
| Type | Cultural, commercial |
| Celebrations | Live performances, special music releases |
| Frequency | annual |
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.
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.
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