TAPE BLAB BLOG
New Content Every #TapeLabTuesday
How Streaming Hurts Music in 2026
Spotify is killing music in 2026
If you are one of Spotify’s 281 million paid users, you just got hit with a price increase in 2026. If each of those people is now paying just $2 more a month, that's over half a billion dollars in new monthly revenue — more than $6 billion a year — on top of what they were already making. And yet, somehow, the people actually making the music are still being paid fractions of a penny per stream.
Best Cassette Players to Buy in 2026
From vintage Walkmans to modern tape decks, here are the best cassette players to buy in 2025. Tape Lab shares its picks.
RADICAL NEW REVERSE ROYALTY PROGRAM
Tape Lab launches the Reverse Royalty Program — a radical initiative paying listeners for every stream. Defy Big Streaming. Get paid to listen. Ever wondered how much artists actually make from streaming platforms? You would be disgusted - nobody, especially not artists who help imbue our lives with meaning, should be making this kind of money from their effort. Shameful.
How to Release Your First Cassette Tape (Without a Label)
Step-by-step guide to releasing your first cassette tape without a label: planning, duplication, artwork, pricing, and DIY tips for underground artists.
Why Cassette Tapes Refuse to Die: 2025 Edition
That dusty Walkman in your drawer might be more alive than you think. In 2025, people aren’t just collecting cassettes as retro trophies — they’re actively hunting them, pressing new runs, and treating them as cultural artifacts.
Cassette tape sales jumped 204.7% in Q1 2025, reaching 63,288 units in the U.S. — while CD sales simultaneously dipped. Headphonesty This kind of spike is impossible to chalk up to idle nostalgia alone. No — this is a cultural, economic, and symbolic revival.
Why Cassette Tapes Still Matter in 2025 for Underground Artists
Why cassette tapes still matter in 2025 for underground and independent artists: physical releases, scarcity, sound, and why tapes still beat pure digital.
EXCLUSIVE REMIX: Gungan Celebration
GUNGAN CELEBRATION EXCLUSIVE RELEASE ON TAPE BLAB BLOG
Why Tape Lab Loves SoundCloud in 2025
Tape Lab breaks down why SoundCloud in 2025 is still the best platform for underground producers and independent artists—unlimited uploads, track replacements, CarPlay testing, and more.
Is It Worth Fixing Your Old Cassette Player in 2025?
Got an old cassette player lying around? Learn when it's worth fixing, how to diagnose common issues, DIY repair tips, and when to call a pro. A practical guide for tape lovers in 2025.
DURTY BOUNCE Video Out Now
We just dropped a short for an unreleased track called DURTY BOUNCE—a crusty little number built live on a Kaossilator, laced with harmonies from the Omnichord. No edits, no overdubs. Just raw bounce, straight to tape.
How to Store Cassette Tapes Safely
Keep your cassette tapes from warping or degrading with these simple storage tips. Tape Lab shares best practices.
How to Make Art on Tape
Cassette tapes are more than sound vessels. They’re sculpture. Ritual. Tactile relics. Each one a small object charged with intention — magnetic and otherwise.
If you’re here looking for a guide on how to make art on tape, understand this: it’s not about format fetishism. It’s about objecthood. About shaping a physical artifact that says something — even before it plays.
Why Indie Bands Are Releasing Cassettes Again
Indie bands are releasing cassettes in 2025 for more than nostalgia. Tape Lab explains the underground appeal.
The MEGARCHIVE Has Reached Critical Mass
After years of unchecked growth and unregulated chaos, the Tape Lab MEGARCHIVE has finally hit full saturation. That’s 500 tracks deep—no more, no less. We’ve officially capped the playlist. It’s not dead, but it’s done growing.
COUNTERESPONSIVE STEMS Challenge
We're dropping an instrumental demo of Counterattack / Counterresponsive, one of our favorite chaos agents from the Tape Lab catalog.
170 BPM | Submissions due by January 1, 2025
How to Make the Perfect Mixtape (Without Being Cringe)
Learn how to make the perfect romantic mixtape without sounding cheesy. From sequencing tips to must-have Tape Lab tracks, this guide keeps it personal, honest, and totally not cringe.
Why Gen-Z Loves Cassette Tapes
Welcome to 2025, where Gen Z loves cassette tapes, and not ironically. It’s not just nostalgia. It’s rebellion. It’s ritual. And yes — it’s aesthetic. But the aesthetic has teeth.
Recording with Limitations: Making Art When Your Setup Sucks
You don’t need a spaceship studio or a $3,000 mic to make something that matters. In fact, most great art happens because of limitations, not in spite of them. If your gear’s falling apart, your plugins are cracked, and your DAW crashes every 15 minutes — congratulations. You’re in the right headspace.
Cassette Tapes vs Vinyl vs CDs
Cassette tapes, vinyl, and CDs each have pros and cons. Tape Lab breaks down sound, collectibility, and culture.
Only on Tape, Vol. 1
Tape Lab releases a 1-of-1 exclusive mixtape featuring unreleased underground tracks and songs that will never stream anywhere else — a true piece of lost media available only on TapeLab.live.
ABOUT TAPE BLAB BLOG
The Tape Blab Blog is an up-to-the-minute feed for all things Tape Lab. We’ve got DIY and How-To Guides, Tape Lab Lore, Official Merch Drops, and Updates on our latest music.