Ep365: The Return of the Cassette Tape
The Vinyl Guide - Artist Interviews for Record Collectors and Music Nerds
Nate Goyer
4.7 • 579 Ratings
🗓️ 21 November 2022
⏱️ 46 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The Cassette tape audio format is having a minor renaissance with artists & labels turning to the format in the wake of supply chain issues and a thirst for nostalgia. Today we talk to Jean-Luc Renou, CEO of Recording The Masters - RTM - about this phenomenon and how music lovers should think of the cassette tape.
Topics include:
- Why are cassettes being revisited?
- The history of RTM
- The arc of cassette sales over recent decades
- The difference between cassettes of the 80s and now
- Record Store Day cassettes releases
- Do we start w analogue tape?
- The changing formulas for magnetic tape
- Is there a finite amount of cassette tape?
- The durability of cassettes
- Can I play a cassette decades after last use?
- Common mistakes in caring for cassettes
- Aging parts of a cassette tape
- Sourcing parts for cassette manufacturing
- Were companies making cassettes in the last few decades?
- Number of cassette manufacturers
- Differences in cassette types – formulas, various noise reductions, etc
- The history of the compact cassette format
- The impact of the Sony Walkman
- Was there a cassette format war?
- Who is making cassette players today?
- The niche industry helped cassettes survive the last 30 years
- How long can cassettes last?
- People purchasing cassettes with no means to listen to it
- The biggest challenges to the modern cassette industry
- Cassettes have benefitted due to the vinyl backlog
- Creating pre-recorded cassettes
- Modern demand for reel to reel tapes
- Comments on VHS tape
- Partner network for pre-recorded tapes
- RTM's new cassette tape player
- Interview wrap up
Extended, High-resolution & Commercial Free version of this interview available at: www.Patreon.com/VinylGuide
Listen on Apple: https://apple.co/2Y6ORU0
Listen on Spotify: https://spoti.fi/36qhlc8
Follow our Podcast: https://linktr.ee/vinylguide
Facebook: www.Facebook.com/VinylGuide
Instagram: www.Instagram.com/VinylGuide
Support our show: www.Patreon.com/VinylGuide
If you like records, just starting a collection or are an uber-nerd with a house-full of vinyl, this is the podcast for you. Nate Goyer is The Vinyl Guide and discusses all things music and record-related
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | This episode is brought to you by Groove Washer, the best record cleaners and protective sleeves for your vinyl collection. |
| 0:05.6 | Ask for the Groove washer from your local shop or go to groove washer.com. |
| 0:09.7 | Discount code, Vinyl Guide 10. |
| 0:12.4 | And now, on with the show. |
| 0:16.3 | Well, hey, everyone, it's Nate. |
| 0:18.2 | Welcome to episode 365 of The Vinyl Guide. |
| 0:21.9 | The podcast for record collectors and music nerds, and I hope everyone's doing fantastic. |
| 0:26.8 | Big special shout out to our friends over in America. |
| 0:30.1 | I know it's Turkey Day week this week. |
| 0:32.3 | Hope you all did quite well. |
| 0:34.2 | And getting ready to brave the crowds on record store day, Black Friday, lots of stuff |
| 0:40.3 | being released into the independent record shops this November 25th, including lots of cassettes. |
| 0:47.8 | I mean, this year, I got a ton of press releases from bands and record labels that are putting |
| 0:51.5 | out cassettes, not just for Black Friday, but all points |
| 0:55.2 | in between. And I'll be 100% honest. I've never been a huge cassette guy. I, you know, I pretty |
| 1:01.1 | much went straight from records to CDs back in the day. Of course, I had some cassettes. I played |
| 1:06.2 | them in my 82 Toyota Corolla. They worked fantastic, but I never got to be a big collector of cassettes. |
| 1:13.3 | So in recent years, when the cassette revivals start to come back around, and I got some |
| 1:17.3 | questions, you know, what is this all about? Why are cassettes back? How popular are they? Where |
| 1:23.5 | they being manufactured? What's the supply chain like? It struck me a lot. So I figured I'd do a |
| 1:28.9 | little bit of follow-up, and for that I went straight to the source. Jean-Luc Renaud is on the show |
| 1:35.1 | today. He's the CEO for Recording the Masters, or RTM. Now, RTM makes magnetic tape, and that includes |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Nate Goyer, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Nate Goyer and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.