Syndetics cover image
Image from Syndetics

Unspooled : how the cassette made music shareable / Rob Drew.

By: Material type: TextTextSeries: Sign, storage, transmissionPublisher: Durham : Duke University Press, 2024Copyright date: ©2024Description: xi, 216 pages : illustrations ; 24 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9781478025597
  • 147802559X
  • 9781478020837
  • 1478020830
Subject(s):
Contents:
Love, theft, and audiotape -- Home taping and its discontents -- The cassette underground and aboveground -- Gatekeeping the cassette release -- Cassettes in a vinyl universe -- Cultures of re-recording -- Mix tape memories and fictions -- Your hiss is what I miss.
Summary: "Unspooled examines the history of the audio cassette within the context of indie rock musical subcultures. Focusing on how the cassette heralded new modes of music sharing, intimacy, and communication through forms such as the mix tape, Rob Drew argues that the format's emotional resonance is tied to its shareability. Each chapter traces the cassette's history and evolution, from its predecessor open-reel tape and treatment in the music industry, to prominence in unauthorized secondhand music distribution. Positioning itself within discourses about the political economy of sound and the history of music technology, Unspooled offers an extended account of the role cassettes played in popular music cultures"-- Provided by publisher.
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Shelving location Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library NonFiction New 780.266 D776 Available 33111011334543
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Well into the new millennium, the analog cassette tape continues to claw its way back from obsolescence. New cassette labels emerge from hipster enclaves while the cassette's likeness pops up on T-shirts, coffee mugs, belt buckles, and cell phone cases. In Unspooled , Rob Drew traces how a lowly, hissy format that began life in office dictation machines and cheap portable players came to be regarded as a token of intimate expression through music and a source of cultural capital. Drawing on sources ranging from obscure music zines to transcripts of Congressional hearings, Drew examines a moment in the early 1980s when music industry representatives argued that the cassette encouraged piracy. At the same time, 1980s indie rock culture used the cassette as a symbol to define itself as an outsider community. Indie's love affair with the cassette culminated in the mixtape, which advanced indie's image as a gift economy. By telling the cassette's long and winding history, Drew demonstrates that sharing cassettes became an acceptable and meaningful mode of communication that initiated rituals of independent music recording, re-recording, and gifting.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Love, theft, and audiotape -- Home taping and its discontents -- The cassette underground and aboveground -- Gatekeeping the cassette release -- Cassettes in a vinyl universe -- Cultures of re-recording -- Mix tape memories and fictions -- Your hiss is what I miss.

"Unspooled examines the history of the audio cassette within the context of indie rock musical subcultures. Focusing on how the cassette heralded new modes of music sharing, intimacy, and communication through forms such as the mix tape, Rob Drew argues that the format's emotional resonance is tied to its shareability. Each chapter traces the cassette's history and evolution, from its predecessor open-reel tape and treatment in the music industry, to prominence in unauthorized secondhand music distribution. Positioning itself within discourses about the political economy of sound and the history of music technology, Unspooled offers an extended account of the role cassettes played in popular music cultures"-- Provided by publisher.

Powered by Koha