How the Promotion of a Niche Format Makes for a Good Excuse to Shop In Comfort (or, Cassette Store Day, 2016)
Cassette Store Day is probably unnecessary. I won't pretend there's any real need to promote cassettes in the download era, even if the format's cool factor has heightened over the last five or more years. I'm one who still enjoys listening to certain albums via tape deck, aware that, for indie circles, (and not "indie" as genre, but indie as independent), cassettes provide artists and labels the means to retain the purity of the physical format cheaply. Plus, there's always the potential to create something that looks cool. I met up with my friend, Chris, Saturday morning outside of Repo Records, a rather dreary day on still-sleepy South Street. Repo was the only spot in Philadelphia, (or Pennsylvania for that matter), participating in the aforementioned Cassette Store Day, which is another event prompting labels to kick out special releases and encouraging stores to stock them for the sake of increased foot traffic and earnings potential. Rad