Does anyone buy tapes from artists on Bandcamp?
There are quite a lot of artists and labels selling them. Just wondering how popular they are and if people buy actually them, or if they just sit there.
4 Likes
I do - bought one just the other day (it’s superb, apparently all made on a 4 track):
(I’m biased though as I know the artist and have performed with him over the years many times…still, it’s excellent imo!)
9 Likes
I did when I had a car with a cassette player.
I don’t own that car any more, nor any other cassette player. So that’s the end of that story.
I don’t sell any physical copies of my music, because I live in Australia and postage to every where that isn’t Australia cots more than the tapes, like way more. If I lived in EU or USA I totally would sell and buy tapes and records.
9 Likes
I buy them and also find that I almost always sell out when I sell small runs of them. I think it just is a way to show people you take your music seriously enough to make something physical, people are generally more likely to give it a listen.
*My personal advice is don’t run out and do a run of 100 tapes unless you have a big following already. I think 20-30 is good feeling out the water numbers. But also I probably wouldn’t do tapes if I wasn’t set up to DIY it.
7 Likes
There’s still an audience for physical releases, people always enjoy having something to show for their money. We’re strange creatures in that we don’t always want something for what it is, we want it for what it represents to us.
There are a few artists, even members here (like jogging house for example), who sell tapes or LP’s as physical releases and they sell out of them. Why? Because they’re in touch with their audience and that’s what their audience wants to buy.
In reality, most artists will end up with a box full of tapes and very few sales, same as with any other physical or non-physical release. If there’s a paying audience and a demand for the product, the product will sell.
8 Likes
Yes, there’s definitely strong, little scenes and communities built around the labels and artists releasing tapes.
When I was in my early 20s and had zero money, it was really cool to both buy and sell tapes and then a lot of my favorite tape labels shut down or tapered off
2 Likes
Here’s one of mine fwiw (comes with 3d glasses):
It’s a duo between Richard Sanderson playing amplified melodeon and electronics and myself on Moog guitar, electronics and found objects.
3 Likes
Postage often kills it for me. I’m always putting things in the BC cart then seeing post and tax and taking them out again. €20 for a cassette sometimes. I buy physical releases from local artists happily
Will depend a bit on where you live I’m sure. Post within the States seems reasonable when I’ve noticed prices on Discogs
7 Likes
I do as much as possible. By that I mean if I can get to it before they sell out. I have a friend who has been doing a black metal tape label on bandcamp for quite a few years now. I have a bunch of his releases. Plus my favorite media to play in my house is tapes. It just feels good. I almost always will preorder the tape if a band I love is pressing them.
3 Likes
I’ve got a small collection of primarily black metal, electronic, and lofi indie tapes I’ve purchased off bandcamp, along with some bootleg video game soundtrack cassettes. They are cheaper than vinyl records, which is kind of why I gravitate to them these days if I want a physical copy. I recently bought a jungle mixtape that’s actually only available on cassette - the digital copy is just a teaser.
I’d love to do a limited tape release at some point, but it’s kind of pricey for small runs and I worry about having to deal with storing a box of cassettes for the rest of my life.
6 Likes
I bought my last tape in 1985. It was Aha’s Hunting high and low. I played it repeatedly on my Sony walkman during that winter. I remember the sound of rewind and forward. And the clunk of turning it over. It was a pleasure.
3 Likes
although no longer active on elektronauts, @pokk has a label “Tapes For Mates” that releases on tapes, you can try reaching out through bandcamp or email from his site to ask specifics
6 Likes
Thanks just had a quick listen and this is an awesome little label!
2 Likes
there’s also the bigger label sm-ll, there are some tape releases there as well, but mostly digital/vinyl…
2 Likes
Nice. Similar vein.
Both have an interesting pricing strategy, i.e. fairly expensive for tape.
I wonder how many they shift?
1 Like
dunno, but he should be responsive via email, there’s address on the bandcamp pages, feel free to reach out he’s a very nice guy 
2 Likes
I still buy cassettes, almost exclusively from Bandcamp. I’m working on completing my Cryo Crypt collection. 
6 Likes
…it’s an everlasting, timeless medium…even if u don’t play those cassetes or actually even don’t own a tapedeck…collecting vinyl is one thing…collecting tapes is almost the same kind of thing…
just more democratized…and affordable…
it’s THE UBERmerch product/collectors item for truu fans and huuuge fun for an artist to release such items…
like a good collection/libary of books…it’s a timeless artform…up on ur shelve…
keep on rolling…
3 Likes
Tapes have always been popular in the noise and experimental scenes. I can usually sell out a run of 50 or so. There are distros and record stores all over the world that specialize in small label/underground stuff that will buy copies. Also there are a lot of artists I trade tapes with.
For me, just releasing things on bandcamp is a black hole. I’m not interested in the branding social media hustle that is necessary when you just do digital releases. There is something about releasing physical copies out into the wild, you never know who’s hands it will end up in.
14 Likes
Funnily enough, my cassette release done with a help of my friends who run diy labels helped me to get much more attention than the vacuum of Bandcamp (not sure about the numbers, maybe totally 20 copies via Bc, irl sales and couple of distros).
2 Likes