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Mix-A-Tape introduces mixtapes to the streaming generation
In the era of online music streaming, a cross-generational collaboration called Mix-A-Tape aims to use legal mixtapes to provide local musicians with fair royalties.
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Colorful collection: Tapes and sleeve designs for Mix-A-Tape cassettes. (JP/Courtesy of Mix-A-Tape)
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or those who grew up in the 80s and 90s, the mixtape was a big part of youth and adolescence. Predating MP3s and digital streaming, the mixtape was a way to connect to music in a personal way – or sometimes an attempt to woo that crush in the 9th grade. In this era of Spotify playlists, where every song is only a few clicks away, it’s seemingly unthinkable that the mixtape would make a comeback, and yet that’s exactly what the Mix-A-Tape project is trying to do.
A cross-generational collaboration of four music-related entities based in Jakarta (The Store Front, Winona Tapes, Casual Fan Club and Project Inversa), Mix-A-Tape allows people to curate their own mixtapes on an actual audio cassette in all its plastic film glory, with choices of sleeve artwork made by talented local artists.
For 33-year-old Yogha Prasiddhamukti, cassettes have always been special.
“The only music player available in my house was a tape deck, so I grew up listening to music on cassette,” he said. “I didn’t even touch vinyl records, and by the time CDs were on the come up, I already owned so many cassettes.”
His love for the format caused him to start Winona Tapes, an independent music label that puts out music on cassette and digital formats, in 2016. Even though it is a niche market, Yogha seems content with only selling small quantities of tapes for each release.
“I didn’t really think too much about it,” he said. “I just thought it would be fun to offer bands that I liked a chance to have their first physical release.”
