Soviet cassette tape culture: home dubbing, underground shows, censorship

[@blikker8]

Where can I find the song at the end?

[@ConsumerDV]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/oobGqayBd8aAia8 or studio version here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/iZ6yo36cnL6CasU

[@blikker8]

@@ConsumerDV Thank you!

[@rolandjaycutter3504]

I'm surprised this is a thing, I had always assumed the USSR (and the Eastern Bloc by proxy) developed a domestic format that just didn't survive the collapse. Good to see that cassette is so universal. Great video. :)

[@ConsumerDV]

They used the same broadly accepted standards like compact cassette or VHS. Thanks for the comment!

[@WhereVR]

Well produced and informative video. I enjoyed it a lot.

[@hamidmassoud4671]

You have artfully put together a great piece on Russian cassette tape culture. Very informative and entertaining as well. I was not only educated but had fun watching it.

[@jonasstrmmen1328]

I really was looking for something else, but out of curiosity I had to check this video. This was very educational and interresting. Greetings from Norway :)

[@ConsumerDV]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@JoeUrbanYYC]

This was really excellent. I came across your channel while searching for Walkman info and came away educated about Russian/Soviet cassette culture.

[@ConsumerDV]

Thanks! The first half was so boring I cut most of it out after I uploaded the video, KZbin has some nice editing tools. I am thinking about re-making it, adding more info.

[@JoeUrbanYYC]

@@ConsumerDV definitely, I'm a history nerd first, walkman fan second so I'd love more info on the history in Russia. Sad that two of the artists featured died so young.

[@kidkangaroo5213]

This is a very nicely put together video! Thank you for sharing

[@PanaSonyc]

Thank you! This is almost the same as we had in Romania, also the times when there was no copyright on music. But while communism we didn't really have Soviet MK cassettes. There was the east German Orwo brand and for more money Agfa.

[@amplifierheadache]

I'm glad I found your channel, lots of interesting information that I am deeply interested in, being a child in the mid 90s was interesting as I got to experience here in the west the digitalization of, everything, but was still born early enough to still have to rely on many older and retiring technologies such as cassette and analog video. My late father was an aircraft mechanic and got to travel the world from the late 70s to the early 90s, he had several bootleg cassettes he picked up in various countries and such. I myself have now seen a large return of cassette culture and have gotten involved in the underground production and sharing of material. In the west it isn't too much about political censorship (though it does appear to be a threat now) but more of a response to the extreme commercialization of music and the decline of tangible ownership of music formats. I hope the physicality of music isn't lost. Keep making great videos friend.

[@ChiakiMotomaru]

Thank you for sharing this piece of the past with us, it's informative and interesting. I also liked how you connected what happened in the past with current affairs. Really interesting to me, knowing a bit of history of my country.

[@professionalvr]

The Bulgarian equivalent of the Soviet Melodiya was called Балкантон(Balkanton). Balkanton started to make cassettes in the beginning of the 80s. The cassettes were made by the the Dinko Banenkin factory for magnetic storage in the village of Dragor, Pazardjik region. The factory also produced blank audio cassettes and VHS tapes under the Video Dragor brand. The audio cassettes were loaded with tape, made by BASF and AGFA.

[@ConsumerDV]

Thanks for the info! Soviet audio cassettes used domestically produced Type I tape, but Type II tape, which was very rare, was imported, I believe it was BASF and AGFA as well. I don't know where magnetic tape for Soviet VHS cassettes came from, these cassettes were hard to come by in the 1980s.

[@Freakydile]

Superbe video you have made sir, I found it cause I was searching if CD-ROMS were available in the CCCP. So informative!!!!!! Thanks a lot, regards from Belgium

[@korolchukpp]

Очень классный ролик получился. Я как раз застал аудиокассеты.

[@ConsumerDV]

Спасибо!

[@gasmonkey1000]

Bit late and I'm not sure if you'll have the time to see this but hearing this really is fascinating to hear about. I sometimes ask my parents about life back then but my dad grew up in the UK and my mom in Texas. So it's always amazing to hear what things were like in Russia and some of the other countries under communism. I'm a bit surprised y'all got casettes by the 70s, I guess I just thought the Polituburo would think the cassettes would be too "dissident" to allow folks to have and make. Still thanks again and God bless ya man.

[@ConsumerDV]

Thanks for watching! Yeah, I am surprised they allowed recordable media like reel-to-reel and cassettes. In terms of indigenous production, cassettes were a simple tech. Reel-to-reel too. Super 8 film as well. But starting from the late 1970s the USSR was lagging more and more tech-wise. With VCRs, the Soviets correctly bet on VHS, but in terms of models, they copied one of the last top-loading Panasonic VCRs and produced it for ten years without major changes - ONE model for the whole country. They tried manufacturing CD players from foreign components, the number of units produced was minuscule. The US was not making VCRs and CD players either, but the US was making computers when a Soviet student could only buy a programmable calculator. Anyway, first - copying machines, then high-speed printers allowed to disseminate books. Then reel-to-reel tape and cassettes allowed to disseminate music and spoken word. Then VCRs allowed to watch foreign movies and music shows. The fifth or sixth copy looked and sounded bad, but it still was usable. The USSR has lost the information war. Today one can buy a 1TB MicroSD card, this is mind boggling capacity the size of a fingernail, so even if Russia cuts off its segment of the Internet, it will be possible to smuggle information in and out. Then again, Russia can seal the borders like in good old times. Will it do it? Even with KZbin being available in Russia now, older people keep watching state TV. It seems that simply being able to access information freely is not enough. Back in the Soviet times only those who really wanted an alternative to state news, music, movies looked for it, everyone else was content with what the state fed them. Little has changed. They have smartphones but watch state news, voluntarily.

[@ChillHeal]

Very interesting, thanks!

[@rollmaleinen9343]

Thanks for these interesting views on the russian cassette culture!!! Do you know if there is any literature on this topic available? Love

[@ConsumerDV]

I am sorry, I don't know about any literature on the topic :(

[@WhereVR]

THIS is it as far as I know. This video will be referenced for years to come by those looking into the subject.

[@pablozuta2402]

Great video

[@ЮрияГорев]

like

[@Ruibroa]

Some Soviet bands and musicians tried to be promoted in the USA. For example Autograph, Mashina Wremeni, Chernuy Kofe, Vladimir Kuzmin did it with no positive results. The remarkable point is that the sound production of American recording companies was many times worse than the sound having been created by Melodya)! Compare the Soviet release of Autographs LP Kamennyi Kray with their American one called Tear down the Border ( the same music material). Feel the difference! No chance for American sound! Find the American version of the song Fluger by Mashina Vremeni- the same situation! The a!bum Perestupi Porog by Chernyi Kofe made on Melodya is the best metal sound production in the world. Do compare with the same american release of the band - no chances, dude! The sparkling sound transperancy was typical for the Soviet brand Melodya! PS I will control your channel not to give you an opportunity for misinformation, dude!

[@Ruibroa]

Stop lying, dude! The soviets proposed the records of western performers which were on the top those times. Among them ABBA, Cliff Richard,Smokey, BoneyM, BeeGees,The Beatles ,Elton and others. Some of the performers got the unique shot to record on Melodya their best LPs which were out of their typical native crap. I mean the LP of New Seekers " Tell me". The LP was the level for the band that it couldn't attain at home! Soviets also organised tours only for those western musicians which realy were on the pedestal. Among the musicians were Elton, Cliff, Loredanna Berte, BoneyM and others. Find shows and interviews of the performers for the Soviet TV and you see that their visiting the USSR was something special for them in the regard of their music career. Dude, you are not professional! Shame on you!.