Originally published at: After home taping was killing music, record profits were made | Boing Boing
…
5 Likes
All moral panics suck, but at least the ones pushed by Xtianists and prudes yield entertaining side products like Reefer Madness and Chick tracts. The ones promoted by corporations and governments (or government adjacent figures like Tipper Gore) are nothing but cringe. Though the logo in this case was great once it was put to its proper use by ThePirateBay.
6 Likes
It was a most excellent piece of graffic design.
ETA: worth it.
12 Likes
“Is home recording killing the music industry? Yes!
Instead of making millions and millions of dollars,
they’re only making millions of dollars.”
–Matt Groening, “Life In Hell”
12 Likes
After home taping was killing music, record profits were made
Well, duh - of course profits were made from records - they couldn’t make profits from tapes, just like they said! Otherwise they’d have said 'tape profits were made’. /s 
9 Likes
Now I understand why I saw ribbons of cassette tape all over the roads back in the day. There must have been roadblocks up ahead and the perps tossed the contraband out the window.
6 Likes
Friend of mine used to regularly tape the top-twenty every week.
We still bought the singles.
Also, I think you may have dropped this:
(Sorry - couldn’t resist it. I am a bad person).
6 Likes
Meeting up after school to play and tape our records. Going to a couple of record stores at least once a week. Pooling our resources. Coordinating our purchases. Never turning down a friend with a blank tape.
12 Likes
I’ll just overdub it later.
6 Likes
Noicely done…
4 Likes
i had that song in my head when i clicked the headline!
"you’re rich enough to have a record collection/ i’ll bring my bazooka 'round for an inspection"
6 Likes
I remember being extra proud of myself figuring out the record store signs here when I moved to Montreal:
LP–CD–K7
2 Likes
Obligatory:
7 Likes
I love that slogan, and mock it every chance I get when web sites allow me to upload my own banner for my profile.
ETA: that says “home pooping is killing the pay toilet industry”. Not sure why it got cropped.
6 Likes
The only hooky dub tape I’ve still got is ‘Variations on a Theme by Paganini’, by Julian Lloyd-Webber, which I copied from my vinyl record to play in the car.
2 Likes
How many acts got their break by recording themselves in their garage or basement and mailing the tape to their local DJ?
Also, the mixtape. It became such a fixture of western culture in the '80s and '90s* that, like, how many movies have been made about it (many of them Hollywood funded blockbusters)?
Cassette dubbing, even if done well was noticeably lower fidelity for most people. It was like taking a colour photocopy of an art print and putting it on your wall. It probably boosted concert attendance by making artists music accessible to a wider audience.
I still have a few blank, still packaged cassette tapes stored in a shoebox. I don’t have a player/recorder anymore, but have thought about getting my hands on one - mostly for the nostalgia value. It was fun to put mix tapes together**. You had to make decisions about what music mattered most to you. Now there is just bloated Spotify playlists or endless algorithmic streaming.
*And lived on during the napster/bit torrent era in the early 2000s as the mix CD
**Yes, I know that mixtapes killed the idea of an album
3 Likes
This topic was automatically closed after 5 days. New replies are no longer allowed.
