Peer 2 Peer: Then and Now
I remember when I was young and we would tape songs off of each other’s records. Often, though, I would end up taping the whole album. My friends and I would buy albums that the other didn’t have and we would make tapes for each other. If I really liked the albim, I would go and buy my own copy of the album after wearing out the tape. Then I would tape it for another friend and the cycle would start over again. A lot of the stuff I listened to wasn’t played on the radio at the time so sharing music was the way for more obscure artists to get heard.
Today, technology has made it much easier for independent or obscure artists to be heard, but the state of music is even worse than it was when I was making mix tapes at home on the HiFi. I know in my case file sharing has helped me find great artists I would have never heard of on the radio. I have bought albums based on songs I have copied from friends, much like I did back when I was young.
So the mix tape was the old school analog version of file sharing and record sales were doing just fine.
If you have fond memories of cassette tapes, check out http://www.tapedeck.org .