Fullerton-based record label and shop<\/a> started releasing cassette tapes in 2008 with \u201960s-inspired surf-pop group Thee Makeout Party, which was made up of Burger Records founders Sean Bohrman and Lee Rikard. Since then, Burger has put out more than 200 debut albums on cassettes and manages to sell 300 to 500 cassettes a week depending on the artist and the release, Bohrman said.<\/p>\n![\"cassettesfingerprints5\"](\"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/cassettesfingerprints5.jpg\")
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\u201cWe\u2019ve been putting out all kinds of cassettes, it just kind of caught on,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are covering all the formats \u2026 no one else was making cassettes at the time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bohrman said that producing a cassette is also a cheaper, affordable way for artists to come out with new music, with 250 cassettes costing only $225 compared to 200 CDs costing $500. Some Burger cassette releases include mostly lo-fi, garage rock Southern California groups like acid rockers The Growlers, lo-fi pop artist Colleen Green, surf poppers Cherry Glazerr and punk rock duo The Garden.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are kind of forcing the music-buying public to listen,\u201d Bohrman said.<\/p>\n
Foster said Fingerprints has been collecting cassettes from customers who were looking to sell or trade their old collections. Once the catalyst and audience for the plastic hand-helds grew, he said he decided it was time to take the cassettes from the back stock and put them on display.<\/p>\n
On a good day, the shop may sell about two or three cassettes. However, since the format is such a new addition, Foster said the learning process is still ongoing.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s kind of fun and exciting, as we see things sell, it kind of reinforces our decisions that we made,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
For Long Beach residents like Curtis Stage, the cassette comeback is a surprise, mostly because of the lack of sound quality.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think vinyl sounds better,\u201d he said. \u201cI grew up with cassettes. I\u2019m in my 40s; [this generation] never grew up with that. It\u2019s exciting to bring something back that was dead.\u201d<\/p>\n
William Ardelean, a high-school student from Long Beach, said he used to listen to cassettes while growing up when he had a cassette Walkman and tapes that were handed down to him from his parents.<\/p>\n
{loadposition latestlife}\u201cPhysically they are very fun to hold, they are very fun to play with,\u201d Ardelean, who now listens to music mostly through Spotify or Youtube because of convenience and options, said. \u201cAnd to listen to, they are always kind of interesting because you have the analog control.\u201d<\/p>\n
Today, Foster said he sees more kids who have cars that hold cassette decks, which gives this generation more reason to invest in the retro format.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think you\u2019d be hard-pressed to go into a stereo store, or whatever passes for one these days, and pick up a cassette player,\u201d he said. \u201cYou\u2019d probably find one online. But they are hard to come by.\u201d<\/p>\n
Foster said he also has a bias against cassettes, mostly for the poor sound quality when compared to vinyl records.<\/p>\n
\u201cUltimately it\u2019s a cassette, they don\u2019t age well, they oxidize and they stretch. For such a transportable media, they are really fragile,\u201d Foster said. \u201cI appreciate that aspect of it, but do I see a time five years from now when we have a giant cassette department? Probably not.\u201d<\/p>\n
Most of the cassettes that Fingerprints sells are used, which are priced at $3.99, and newer releases, which are priced at $5.99 or $6.99, are still limited. Foster said that the record shop just found a distributor to work with, however, and Fingerprints will start carrying more new cassettes than used in the future.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think there is a nostalgia for things that are kind of cool, and things that you have to learn about and things that you have to explain to your friends, not everybody has them,\u201d Foster said. \u201cWe totally support it. We recognize that at this point, it\u2019s a very small niche, but it\u2019s fun.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Along the left wall that faces rows of CD displays in the 4th St. record shop Fingerprints, two cassette displays showcase both used and new releases in a format that many thought had died out decades ago. But cheap production and a local record label are spurring a resurgence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":94,"featured_media":69107,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-3885","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hi-lo","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3885","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/94"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3885"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3885\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/69107"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3885"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3885"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3885"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=3885"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=3885"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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