Sitting comfortably on the top floor of Manchester’s indoor pop culture market Affleck’s Palace, sits the last surviving cassette shop in the UK. Nestled proudly amongst the fellow vendors of records, shirts, posters and even action figures is a window to the past that should be conserved into the future.
Founded in early 2019, Mars Tapes began as the DIY record label Sour Grapes Records founded by Alexander Tadros, Giorgio Carbone, and Borja Regueira Vilar. After Sour Grapes put on various gigs around Manchester in venues such as Big Hands Bar in the Northern Quarter, it eventually spiralled into the label releasing physical music from the artists on their roster. “We looked at vinyl and we looked at CD,” says Alex Tadros, one of the founders of Sour Grapes, “but at the end of the day we hated CDs and vinyl was too expensive. We realised cassette was quirkier than CD and cheaper than vinyl.” Eventually, Borja and his partner opened Mars Tapes, which was then adopted by the label, turning the place into a fully-fledged cassette shop.
One could argue that cassettes have been out of fashion for decades, so why sell cassettes in 2021? “Not only are they quirky, affordable to make and easy to source,” explains Alex, “but they’re more durable than things like CDs. I was a CD kid growing up and remember them being easily scratched within a week which got me… grumpy! But with a tape, it can be used again and again and still hold up – unless you obsessively listen to it every day for a year!”
It's no secret that physical music still has its place in a world of digital music and streaming. At the end of 2020, figures released by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) show that the sales of vinyl in the UK have grown for the 13th year running. Sales in 2020 were up 10% from 2019, with that number expected to be higher again in 2021. That same trend is happening with cassettes too, the sales of which rising by 103% in 2020, more than double the 2019 number and the highest number since 2003. Tapes clearly aren’t out of fashion anymore like many people think. But why is the appeal for physical music still there? “For us at first, it was really about the gigs,” explains Alex. “We could have a load of tapes on merch tables at gigs and it’s something people can easily put in their pocket. However, I think the appeal as a whole is to do with the way music is listened to today.
“Artists aren’t getting anything from streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music. [Physical music] allows musicians to make a little bit more money from their music. If they release tapes, they could have about £7 in their pocket instead of 0.002 pence. If they can sell 50 to 100 of those tapes, they’ve made a good bit of money which can go to studio and gig costs, something which streaming can’t help them with.”
Mars Tapes and Sour Grapes founder Alexander Tadros in the shop.
For artists, selling physical music is clearly a no-brainer. But what’s the appeal to the consumer? “We have people come into the shop who were cassette kids back in the '80s and '90s and want a bit of nostalgia for their childhood. Those people probably aren’t listening to the tapes, they just want to have it for nostalgic purposes. But we also have a new group of people who are around 25 and under who come in and want to have a physical record collection and will go away to actually listen to the tapes. Those are the people who come back week after week to add to the collection.”
Despite tape sales rising by 103% last year, it’s clear the cassette appeal still isn’t as widespread as the appeal for vinyl records. That’s evident from the fact there’s one tape shop amongst hundreds of record shops in the UK. Is a future of cassette tapes being as popular as vinyl possible? “No.” states Alex. “I’m a bit of a pessimist that way I suppose but we opened in 2019 and we’ve grown every year. After lockdown, we had some of the biggest sales record we’ve ever had. There’s definitely an increase in sales happening, and people have responded to us—we’ve had a lot more followers on social media and stuff recently. So, in terms of a national or international cassette comeback, it is happening. For example, we have a consignment order label with Universal Records who have Lewis Capaldi, Lady Gaga and all the big pop names—and they’re printing tapes for the first time in around 20 years because they see a market for it. If the major labels have seen a market, there probably is one.”
The Lady Gaga Chromatica cassette release from Universal had the highest cassette sales of the year in 2020. One would think that highest cassette sales would be from classic albums originally released on that format, and that people buy them for nostalgic reasons. Interestingly, that isn't the case. The top 10 cassette chart of last year were all 2020-released albums, including artists such as The 1975, Yungblud and Dua Lipa. Whilst the presumed nostalgic appeal for the cassette comeback is probably there, we could potentially be seeing a whole new generation of music fans warming to physical music such as tapes as well as vinyl.
Despite major labels taking advantage of the increasing cassette markets, indie labels such as Mars Tapes’ sister label Sour Grapes Records are doing the same thing. Formed before the shop, Sour Grapes began when founders Alex, Giorgio and Borja put on gigs featuring their favourite local and national artists. Since they listed themselves as a label on Companies House, they decided to start putting out releases from the artists they promoted at the gigs. Not only do Sour Grapes play into the growing cassette market, but they also play into the ever-growing DIY music scene. Sour Grapes not only look back into the past, but they also look ahead to the future.
Unfortunately, Mars Tapes and Sour Grapes have faced obstacles since their rise in 2019 – one obstacle being the ultimate thorn in every small business’s side…the bloody pandemic. “Covid was a bit of a shock,” says Alex, “we had a smaller unit back then, so when things closed down, we transitioned to selling online. In a way, it helped, especially with our social media following being online. Although we couldn’t sell it in person in the shop, we took advantage of the growing online market which we didn’t have before. Now we’ve reopened, we’ve kept that and have strength in both sides. We had some of our biggest sales when the shop reopened because of people waiting, plus the online sales went up. That really helped us diversify the sales.”
With the last cassette shop in the UK thriving and constantly growing since it formed in 2019, what’s next for Mars Tapes? “We’re always looking to expand the business. We’ll always be a DIY business and we’re always trying to build more of a collective. We’ve got that going the past couple of years so we’ve got more people that can help us out. Regarding the label, we want to out on bigger gigs, and we’ve tried to approach some bigger bands for 2022. For the shop, we’ll see how it goes. If it gets better and better, we’d love to expand again and move into bigger space. Who knows where? The dream for us would be to have a high-street store one day which would be great. We don’t know when it’ll happen, but that’s the goal. Stay growing in Manchester, and maybe become a local institution!”
