TAPE BLAB BLOG
New Content Every #TapeLabTuesday
Tape Lab’s Artist Influences: Loud Color, Cassette Culture, and Beautiful Visual Chaos
Tape Lab has never been interested in looking polished in the boring way. Our visual world is loud, colorful, strange, and proudly overbuilt. It comes from a lot of places at once: 32-bit video games, Japanese role-playing games, underground music flyers, sci-fi paperbacks, cassette culture, collage art, absurd internet debris, and the specific joy of putting one face over another face.
How to Avoid Scams on SoundCloud
Why are there so many scammers on SoundCloud? This article breaks down the most common SoundCloud scams, what artists should watch for, and why unsolicited messages are usually not worth your time.
Why Underground Labels Still Use Cassette Tapes in 2026
Why do underground labels still release cassette tapes in 2026? Limited-run cassettes are cheap to duplicate, fast to produce, great merch, and perfect for building micro-communities with tape-only exclusives.
“He Left with the Tapes”
He left with tapes, a short narrative about losing it all to the tapes.
Newly Translated Scroll Claims Duke Has a Fourth Plumlee in Cold Storage
Multiple reports claim an ancient prophecy has been newly translated—one that appears to point to the existence of a Fourth Plumblee, born of science and occultism and grown under 10x gravity, shielded from the world until the day he is mature enough to attend Duke.
Is SoundCloud Mastering Any Good?
Is SoundCloud Mastering any good? SoundCloud’s Dolby-managed mastering tool is fast, affordable, and included with Artist Pro credits—but it won’t fix a bad mix. Here’s our honest take.
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.
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.
Is this the next Great form of Fiction?
Is this the next great form of fiction? Find it here on Tape Lab - NEVER READ THIS
ART WITHOUT AUDIENCE
There is no art more pure than art made without an audience. Does not having an audience for our art make it worse? No, ya goof! It keeps it purse, unadulterated by the pesky striving for appeal and acceptance. But, don’t think we’re making avant-garde stuff, it’s not!
AI Slop for the Soul, a short essay
AI isn’t replacing artists; AI is replacing audiences.
U + AI: A Conversation
Singing Together is a Highmark for a Friendship
I stand by my believe that watching a teenager smoke a tide pod (a dab no less), was the most punk rock thing I’ve ever seen.
Nobody Asked for This
Against better judgment, I've been updating some of our least favorite songs! Will you ever listen to it? Did you you know that there was a version that existed before? Well, its not important now. You may have missed the opportunity to listen to the bad version, but now there is a NEW version that addresess some of the oustanding issues and adds news just for fun!
Tape Lab 2023 Wrapped, ICYMI
After a prolonged hiatus, 2023 was an exceptionally productive year for Tape Lab! Below are just a few highlights and updates, plus some exclusive new content!
Tape Lab 2023 - Secret & New Tracks
New Tape Lab has been climbing, amoebic out of the primordial file browser and onto the internet over the last few weeks. Of questionable quality and suiting debatable demand, these new tracks come right from the heart!
Tape Lab Tuesday, Halloween
Something new for Halloween 2023. Stay Spooky.
Talking Tape Blab, a Cassette Tape Guide
All about the Tape Blab Blog, LAUNCHED In 2023
ABOUT TAPE BLAB BLOG
Tape Lab is the leader in cassette-based culture and media — discover everything there is to know about tapes on the Tape Blab Blog! Launched in 2024, the Tape Blab Blog is an up-to-the-minute feed for all things cassette-related. We publish DIY and how-to guides, Tape Lab lore, music videos, official merch drops, and updates on new music and projects.
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