picture from 80s Actual

I listened to an old Radio 4 documentary called The Disappearing Art of the Mixtape on the iPlayer earlier this week, which was interesting enough although I can’t remember the word ‘mixtape’ ever being in use back when people did used to make tapes for other people. Mixtape is a word used these days, ironically enough, to describe compilation CDs or downloads, in the olden days we just used to fill up cassettes without the need for a new name.

Making a tape for someone is something I really miss, I can’t remember the last time a girlfriend had the benefit of one of my attempts to speak from the heart via the gift of music and even if I did there’s the very strong possibility that she wouldn’t have anything to play it on so in theory you could make a romantic gesture by decorating a cover before handing over a blank cassette. It would be risky of course, but you have maybe a 95% chance of getting away with it. The same risk applies to the current trend among bands to release music on cassette, I’ve received several press packs that contain tapes but I haven’t played them because I use the download code and get an MP3 copy like all the young people. I would like to buy a tape deck but I’m holding out for a really good one that will compliment my other music playing equipment and hopefully last a while.

The act of compiling a tape for another person is something I might find easier these days as I think that your musical taste develops maturity at the same rate that people do. For example, when I was in my early teens I pretty much only listened to punk and heavy metal, not exactly material conducive to romance. Not that romance is especially on the mind of a teenage boy, but the music was not conducive to a snog and hands up the jumper either. My taste in music is far more eclectic than I would have imagined way back then, the teenage me buried the Smiths and Joy Division (etc) ‘phase’ before nailing my colours to the metal mast whereas nowadays all good music sits side by side in my record collection, alphabetically of course. Also, I love The Smiths and Joy Division again.

The current ‘retro’ (shudder) vogue for cassettes got me thinking of another outlet for The Sunday Alternative, making compilation tapes of the best bits of music from my collection and the best new music, much like the radio version. Not only would this be a nice little keepsake for the listeners, but also it could help me to generate income for the PayPal account. In turn this will help me with the fund and I will be able to continue making and providing free entertainment, and if enough money is made I could look at the more ambitious projects on my to-do list. The issue of copyright is one that could prevent me from doing this, but nobody at school was ever arrested for giving someone a homemade compilation and with that little loophole in mind maybe there is a way to do it that won’t annoy people. If the tape is a gift to an individual then it technically (and I know that this is a grey area) isn’t the same as if I was marketing and selling pirate tapes. Also, the PayPal donations are a gift from you to me and the podcasts and other things are my gift in return, so no paperwork is required, so although I would have to be very careful I doubt I would be breaking too many laws. Having said that I wouldn’t go ahead with such a project until I knew for sure. I know people who could advise me on the rights and wrongs so this idea won’t be happening just yet.

The other option would be to just send out a blank cassette and hope nobody noticed.

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Details on my audio books and other work for sale and how your donations can help me to create free entertainment can be found on my Shop & Donations page.

This week’s edition of The Sunday Alternative is here.