1.2 Tribute: Cassettify - Spotify for Cassettes

By Imara Bollinger & Matthias van der Waal

Paying a tribute to old media allows you to explore how those differ from what media is like currently, with new media. Some of these stark contrasts are the speed and low-cost at which we can use media today, whereas earlier it tended to be more expensive and much slower. Think for example about the different between being able to read the news at any point in time and for free with smartphones, as compared to having to wait to buy the morning newspaper just a century ago. To illustrate the difference between old-new media, we made a combination of an old and new medium for music: Cassettify – Spotify for Cassettes.

      From a modern media viewpoint, we were inspired by subscription services which are on the rise as people are leaving traditional media behind. One of these is Spotify, a music service that allows its users to listen to almost any music anywhere, as long as they an internet connection on their device. They can listen to the latest hits, full albums, Spotify generated playlists or personal playlists. Of course, there is the subscription that gives the user benefits over people who are not subscribed. Spotify premium is ad-free and allows its user to download their song so they can even listen to music without needing to have internet.

      We made the connection between Spotify and a music medium from the 1980’s: Mixtapes. Essentially, Mixtapes are the same as a playlist on Spotify. People made a compilation of music from various sources and recorded it onto one medium, typically a cassette or cd. In the 80’s these were quite popular in youth culture and some people even sold their mixtapes. But if they were so popular why did no one ever make a subscription service?

      Consequently, we came up with the idea of Cassettify, Spotify for Cassettes. The normal service would cost the subscriber a one-time starting payment for a bi-weekly cassette in their mailbox. On this tape there are plenty of top hits from that month, but there are also commercials which do put a restriction on the amount of songs on the cassette. When a new cassette arrives in the mail, the subscriber also receives an envelope with a return address to which they can send back their cassette. If they fail to return it, the user will have to pay a small amount of money for each time it happens but they want to continue using Cassettify. However, if you are a paid subscriber (Cassettify Premium), the subscriber still receives bi-weekly cassettes in their mail but they are ad-free and they can keep the cassettes. Because Spotify relies heavily on generetad or personal playlists, we also wanted users to have the option to chose what they get on the next cassette. In the return envelope there will also be a small form with some options to choose from for the generated playlists, or the option to fill in songs for a personal playlist.     

      Cassettify is not just a modern twist on an old medium, but it is also meant to highlight the contrast with today. The user does not only get commercials but also has to pay a starting sum, as there are clearly cost involved with the cassettes. Making it already more expensive than using Spotify as a non-paying user. Furthermore, they only get new music every other week which is very different from pressing a few buttons on your smartphone.

The process to make Cassettify was quite simple, although finding the resources was not. A cassette recorder was required, which proved quite difficult to find in good working condition. We ended up buying a newer version, which could be connected to a laptop in order to record songs onto the cassette. For the regular subscriptions, we added American radio commercials from the 80’s between each song, which were left out for premium subscribers. Lastly, a form was made to allow users to chose or make a playlist.