FEATURE:
Music Technology Breakthroughs
PHOTO CREDIT: @schluditsch/Unsplash
Part Fourteen: The Cassette
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IN the penultimate edition of Music Technology Breakthroughs…
IN THIS PHOTO: The Dutch engineer, Lou Ottens, with his invention, the cassette, in 2013
I am looking at an important piece of music history that relates to the features I wrote about the Sony Walkman and the tape recorder. I have extolled the virtues and importance of the compact disc, but I have not investigated the cassette. In my final feature of this series, I am discussing the importance of the microphone. I wanted to look at the cassette because, a couple of weeks back, Lou Ottens died. He invented the cassette tape and, from the moment they became popular, I think they transformed the way we listen to and appreciate music. There is a hegemony and debate when it comes to whether cassettes can rank alongside the bliss of vinyl or even the greater reliability of the compact disc – in the sense that it less prone to damage and one tends to find more people listening to compact discs rather than cassettes. I will end with a feature that discusses how the cassette tape is still burning bright. So many artists now release their albums on cassette. Maybe it is a nostalgia thing or, more likely, a way to show how the compact and cool format has a place in the modern world. The sound quality of the cassette has also improved through the years.
Before then, I want to bring in a fascinating article from NPR, where we get a history of the cassette; how it was developed and how it impacted music fans for years and decades:
“Lou Ottens, who put music lovers around the world on a path toward playlists and mixtapes by leading the invention of the first cassette tape, has died at age 94, according to media reports in the Netherlands. Ottens was a talented and influential engineer at Philips, where he also helped develop consumer compact discs.
Ottens died last Saturday, according to the Dutch news outlet NRC Handelsblad, which lists his age as 94.
The cassette tape was Ottens' answer to the large reel-to-reel tapes that provided high-quality sound but were seen as too clunky and expensive. He took on the challenge of shrinking tape technology in the early 1960s, when he became the head of new product development in Hasselt, Belgium, for the Dutch-based Philips technology company.
"Lou wanted music to be portable and accessible," says documentary filmmaker Zack Taylor, who spent days with Ottens for his film Cassette: A Documentary Mixtape.
Ottens' goal was to make something simple and affordable for anyone to use. As Taylor says, "He advocated for Philips to license this new format to other manufacturers for free, paving the way for cassettes to become a worldwide standard."
But first, he had to invent it. Trying to envision something that didn't yet exist, Ottens used a wooden block that was small and thin enough to fit in his pocket as the target for what the future of tape recording and playback should be.
The result was unveiled to the world in 1963, and the "compact cassette" quickly took off: It was "a sensation" from the start, Ottens told Time in 2013, on the cassette's 50th anniversary
"Lou was an extraordinary man who loved technology, even as his inventions had humble beginnings," said Philips Museum Director Olga Coolen. She noted that Ottens' original wooden prototype for the cassette "was lost when Lou used it to prop up his jack while change a flat tire."
Born in 1926, Ottens went from building a radio for his family during World War II — it reportedly had a directional antenna so it could focus on radio signals despite Nazi jamming attempts — to developing technology that would democratize music.
"Cassettes taught us how to use our voice, even when the message came from someone else's songs, compiled painstakingly on a mixtape," Taylor said. Describing how little things have changed, he added, "So next time you make that perfect playlist on Spotify or send a link to share a song, you can thank Lou Ottens."
True to their do-it-yourself roots, cassette mixtapes have long been a favorite of punk and rock fans. But their legacy also looms large in hip-hop, where aspiring rappers and producers have used the approach to showcase their ability to chop up other music and create something new. The mixtape ethos has survived — and even thrived — despite the move from magnetic tapes to CDs and digital formats.
The resurgence is driven by a mix of nostalgia and an appreciation for tapes' unique status as a tangible but flexible format. For decades, music fans have used mixtapes to curate and share their favorite songs. Unsigned bands have also relied on them as a way to promote their music.
For many, cassettes have kept their cult status because they fulfill a dual promise of being both affordable and personal. They can hold anything from a carefully sequenced lineup of rare recordings to children putting on their own radio show”.
I used to buy a lot of cassettes when I was a child. Owning a Walkman, it was great to have these albums available that I could play easily and on the go! Vinyl is great, but I love the portability of cassettes and the fact you can move around whilst listening to them. I also made mixtapes and, like most children, I recorded hits of the day off of the radio. I never thought that, some thirty or so years later, the cassette would exist and find a new audience! It is testament to the durability and simplicity of the invention that it has a space in the modern world.
PHOTO CREDIT: @loravisuals/Unsplash
It is funny that its inventor, perhaps, preferred the compact disc to the cassette. In this article from The Guardian, Ottens discussed his opinions regarding his legacy:
“More than 100bn cassette tapes and 200bn CDs have been sold. When asked about his regrets, Ottens lamented that Sony had brought out the first Walkman. “It still hurts that we didn’t have one,” he said.
Ottens, who died on Saturday, had little patience with the renewed popularity of the cassette tape – or even vinyl.
“Nothing can match the sound of the CD,” he had told the Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad. “It is absolutely noise and rumble-free. That never worked with tape … I have made a lot of record players and I know that the distortion with vinyl is much higher. I think people mainly hear what they want to hear”.
I suppose the revival and growth of cassette sales should be explained. I feel that many are buying cassettes because they are now trendy – in the way that many buy vinyl as art or that it is quite collectable. Also, when compared with vinyl sales, the ‘boom’ of cassette sales is quite minor. This BBC article of last year explains more:
“Cassette tape sales are estimated to have doubled this year compared to 2019.
The British Phonographic Industry, which represents record labels, projects 157,000 tapes will have been sold in the UK in 2020.
That's the highest number since 2003, when compilation Now 54 - featuring the likes of Busted, Girls Aloud and Oasis - was the biggest seller on tape.
IN THIS PHOTO: Yungblud
Now, the top sellers are Lady Gaga, 5 Seconds of Summer and Yungblud.
Firstly, it's important to note that cassette tape sales represent a tiny fraction of music sales this year.
They're dwarfed by the 4.8m vinyl albums sold, which is the highest since the early 90s, according to the BPI.
Among the top 10 best-selling vinyl records of 2020 were classic albums from Fleetwood Mac, Amy Winehouse and Nirvana.
However, all the albums in the cassette top 10 were 2020 releases - from artists such as The 1975, Blackpink and Selena Gomez.
"I think cassettes are the way forward for DIY artists," the 23-year-old tells Newsbeat.
"It gives them something to put out physically, and it gives them a potential to make money."
Tallulah adds that with artists not able to gig this year, fans have taken to other ways to supporting their favourite artists.
"People's eyes open and realise they can't just stream their favourite artists… they need to contribute a bit more."
So why tape over other physical formats for some people?
Firstly, Tallulah says cassettes nowadays have much better sound quality than they used to.
She also works in a record store and thinks that the older people who come in still associate tapes with a hissy, lower-quality sound than vinyl or CDs.
But younger people don't remember when tapes didn't sound as good: "They're the ones buying, because they're the ones thinking it's really cool."
The vinyl revolution of recent years was partly fuelled by people looking for something different to digital downloads and online streaming.
Now vinyl is pretty widespread again, are tapes the new hipster medium?
"There is a bit of that," says Tallulah.
"Some people are probably buying it to take pictures of it and put it on Instagram.
"But that's not really hurting anything, and it's still helping the cause”.
Regardless of whether you think that cassettes had their day in the 1980s and 1990s or they are genuinely relevant and have a future, one cannot deny the fact that they were a huge revelation. Alongside the Sony Walkman, cassettes meant that people could listen to music whilst exercising and walking. It was a real breakthrough and boon. Most of us have some experience of making mixtapes and compiling music on a cassette. I think that there is a long future for cassettes. I don’t think they will ever regain territory with vinyl and that side of the mark – that is not to say that the cassette, by comparison, is obsolete or vastly inferior. Because its inventor, Lou Ottens, died very recently, I wanted to nod to him and extoll the virtues of his contribution to music. It is a wonderful format that, in spite of detractors and criticism, remains important to many new artists. Whilst streaming dominates and more people are looking for physical music that we can buy, cassettes will have a place and find an audience. For that reason, I had not hesitation in including it in…
PHOTO CREDIT: @jontyson/Unsplash
MY Music Technology Breakthroughs feature.