Difference between revisions of "Magnitizdat (USSR)"

The first tape recorders (the EL’fa-6, the Dnepr-3 and the Spais) slowly emerged into the market by the late 1950s, but ‘their production was limited.’  Nevertheless, the Soviet Union was steadily increasing the production of tape recorders throughout the 1960s; 128,000 cassette recorders were in circulation by 1960, which had risen to 4.7 million by 1985.  While an estimated fifty million Soviet citizens bought these Soviet-made tape recorders, many thousands of Japanese recorders were equally smuggled into the Soviet Union by Soviet sailors and were either sold in second hand shops or passed on through informal networks.  However, with the sudden increase of tape recorder sales and the influx of foreign tourists, these products were soon being exploited to re-record and multiply unofficial Western music records or songs by Soviet bards (singer-songwriters such as Aleksandr Galich, Bulat Okudzhava, Vladimir Vyisotskii, and others who used poetry and music to express political commentary), which allowed artists and other amateur enthusiasts to become more accessible to a larger audience. Their music, which was initially restricted to small numbers gathering in private apartments, was now being circulated via underground networks to an increasing number of listeners. As Timothy Ryback states:

The first tape recorders (the EL’fa-6, the Dnepr-3 and the Spais) slowly emerged into the market by the late 1950s, but ‘their production was limited.’  Nevertheless, the Soviet Union was steadily increasing the production of tape recorders throughout the 1960s; 128,000 cassette recorders were in circulation by 1960, which had risen to 4.7 million by 1985.  While an estimated fifty million Soviet citizens bought these Soviet-made tape recorders, many thousands of Japanese recorders were equally smuggled into the Soviet Union by Soviet sailors and were either sold in second hand shops or passed on through informal networks.  However, with the sudden increase of tape recorder sales and the influx of foreign tourists, these products were soon being exploited to re-record and multiply unofficial Western music records or songs by Soviet bards (singer-songwriters such as Aleksandr Galich, Bulat Okudzhava, Vladimir Vyisotskii, and others who used poetry and music to express political commentary), which allowed artists and other amateur enthusiasts to become more accessible to a larger audience. Their music, which was initially restricted to small numbers gathering in private apartments, was now being circulated via underground networks to an increasing number of listeners. As Timothy Ryback states:

As a phenomenon, ''Magnitizdat'' shares many qualities with ''Roentgenizdat'', primarily as both practices helped surpass the state-authorised music distribution channels. The core difference was that while ''Roentgenizdat'' was a cheap imitation of vinyl disks in short supply, ''Magnitizdat'' used authentically produced magnetic tapes which eventually made x-ray disks technologically redundant (cassette tapes had a longer duration and better audio quality). These authentically produced tapes and tape recorders were also permitted in every household, compared to the strictly illegal paper copying devices of ''Samizdat'', and therefore came with less risk of being arrested. The ‘Frumkin’ case, for example, indeed highlights the ‘difference in the regime’s attitudes towards ''magnitizdat'' and ''samizdat''’.  The fact that Frumkin had considered it a worthwhile attempt to emigrate with several ‘''magnitizdat''’ tapes – something unthinkable with the forbidden works of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn – is testament to the ambiguity of policy around cassette tapes. Nevertheless, just like ''Roentgenizdat'' became the medium for unofficial jazz music, ''Magnitizdat'' became the medium for unofficial ''avtorskaia pesnia'' and later rock music, helping return artistic choice and freedom to the masses by breaking the Soviet government’s monopoly on information.

As a phenomenon, ''Magnitizdat'' shares many qualities with ''Roentgenizdat'', primarily as both practices helped surpass the state-authorised music distribution channels. The core difference was that while ''Roentgenizdat'' was a cheap imitation of vinyl disks in short supply, ''Magnitizdat'' used authentically produced magnetic tapes which eventually made x-ray disks technologically redundant (cassette tapes had a longer duration and better audio quality). These authentically produced tapes and tape recorders were also permitted in every household, compared to the strictly illegal paper copying devices of ''Samizdat'', and therefore came with less risk of being arrested. The ‘Frumkin’ case, for example, indeed highlights the ‘difference in the regime’s attitudes towards ''magnitizdat'' and ''samizdat''’.  The fact that Frumkin had considered it a worthwhile attempt to emigrate with several ‘''magnitizdat''’ tapes – something unthinkable with the forbidden works of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn – is testament to the ambiguity of policy around cassette tapes. Nevertheless, just like ''Roentgenizdat'' became the medium for unofficial jazz music, ''Magnitizdat'' became the medium for unofficial ''avtorskaia pesnia'' and later rock music, helping return artistic choice and freedom to the masses by breaking the Soviet government’s monopoly on information.