A lot of people have asked us why we’re choosing to release “Out at Sea” on tape, as opposed to the ubiquitous CD or the audiophile-prefrerred vinyl.
There are a myriad of reasons. First and foremost: we really like cassettes. Although CDs came into common use by the time we were in middle school, CD-Rs lagged behind by several years. This meant music was still traded and shared via cassette for most of our adolescence. There were so many great fringe benefits, too: Tapes are small, light and easier to transport than vinyl or CDs, so they made great companions for road trips. We also loved taping our favorite songs off the radio. And we loved making mix tapes (who didn’t?). CD mixes (and today’s MP3 mixes) never quite felt the same. Not to mention all those times we agonized over whether to “upgrade” a seminal release to CD, only to find we preferred the warmth and worn-in feeling of our original tape copy.
Then there’s the fact that we printed the digital mixes of “Out at Sea” to two-inch tape, something we’d never done before. The experience reminded us of the unique quality of tape, how it lends its own personality to music. We came to feel that delivering these songs to listeners through that same medium would be the best way to preserve what we were hearing in the studio. Plus, the four songs that are included on this EP naturally grouped themselves together in pairs — two louder/rougher-edged tracks, two quieter/gentler tracks. Having an A side/B side split as allowed by tape seemed like the right way to present them.
And as a 100% self-funded operation, it doesn’t hurt that tape is also economical. Vinyl is wonderful, but insanely expensive for short-runs. And that means we have to charge our fans a lot more for it. Tape keeps costs down for us — which ultimately allows us to make more music — and it keeps costs down for the fans who want to own something more than zeros and ones.
Lastly, at this point in time, cassettes just feel special. Of the few remaining record stores here in the U.S., only a small percentage carry tapes. But yet so many of our friends and acquaintances prize their tape collections, refusing — move after move — to give them up. They bond us to our childhoods, and to each other. The feeling we get from sharing and collecting tapes is exactly what we wanted “Out at Sea” to feel like — warm, human, special.
And that brings us to our new record label, Disregard Records, which will have its focus on tape and digital releases. With the economic advantages both tape and digital provide, we’ll be able to put out a steady stream of material, both our own and that of other bands and artists we believe in. And like Magnetic Island itself, the label will be run collaboratively, with input from the artists who become part of the Disregard family.
We’ll talk more about why we chose to name the label Disregard Records in a future post….