C is for Cassettes

In 1979, Factory released A Certain Ratio’s debut album, The Graveyard and The Ballroom, Fact 16c. The PVC packaging that housed the cassette was designed by Peter Saville and is designed as a clutch bag or strapless purse, in reference to the word ‘ballroom’ in the title. The cases were made by an importer of thermoplastic bags, an acquaintance of Saville’s, and came in several different colours, including green and orange.

Fact 16c A Certain Ratio The Graveyard and the Ballroom

Similarly, in 1980, Factory released a cassette-only collection of interviews, from 1977, with the Sex Pistols by rock biographer and journalist Judy Vermorel. Billed as ‘A Factory Documentary Cassette’, The Heyday, Fact 30, was a gold cassette housed in a black leather-effect vinyl pouch.

From 1984, always keen to offer something new and interesting for the record-buying public, Factory launched a series of boxed cassettes, designed by Peter Saville Associates, for a limited section of its roster. Individual board boxes housed a cassette tape that sat within a black plastic tray accompanied by miniature replicas of the original artwork. The first of these releases was for New Order’s Low-life, Fact 100c; it contained a set of four postcards of photographic portraits of the band, contained in a semi-transparent paper folder, over-printed, in two colours, with information for the album.

A selection from Factory’s series of boxed
cassettes, released between 1984-1987

Twenty-two cassettes were released in the series before Factory discontinued them in 1987. These were originally designed to work as a set, with each colour coded for the particular band or artist: white for New Order, purple for Joy Division, green for Section 25 etc. They instantaneously became essential items for collectors; the rarest boxes are Substance , Fact 200c, by New Order (which strangely seemed to be mainly available through Woolworths), Educes Me, Fact 190c, by Wim Mertens and both releases by Section 25.

These objects are another example of Factory’s willingness to produce unique items that went beyond normal expectations, and is also a reflection of Factory’s interests in new formats: The Durutti Column released the first CD-only popular music album with their Domo Arigato, Fact 144, live album; later, when the Factory back catalogue was released on CD, a cardboard ‘car carry case’ was included so that the owner could take the CD without the bulky plastic ‘jewel’ case. Factory Records pioneered the use of Digital Audio Tape as a commercial medium: in 1987, The Durutti Column’s The Guitar and Other Machines Fact 204, became the first commercially released pre-recorded Digital Audio Tape.