Chicago man's 10,000-concert tape collection now streaming for free

Decades-long passion project to preserve live music performances comes to light

Apr. 14, 2026 at 1:55am

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An extreme close-up photograph of a vintage cassette tape reel, with the tape itself reflecting a warm, golden glow under dramatic studio lighting, creating an abstract and glamorous visual representation of the analog recording medium.A rare glimpse into the analog recording medium that preserved decades of live music history.Chicago Today

A 59-year-old Chicago resident named Phillip Seymour has amassed a personal collection of over 10,000 live music recordings on cassette tapes from concerts he attended over the past four decades. After years of carefully preserving the tapes, Seymour's collection is now being digitized and made available to stream for free online, allowing music fans around the world to access this unique archive of live performances.

Why it matters

Seymour's collection represents a remarkable personal passion project to document and preserve the live concert experience, a format that has become increasingly rare in the digital age. As physical media formats like cassettes continue to decline, Seymour's efforts to digitize and share his trove of recordings provides an invaluable historical record of live music from the late 20th and early 21st centuries.

The details

Seymour, a lifelong music enthusiast, began attending concerts in the 1980s and made it a habit to record each show he attended on high-quality cassette tapes. Over the decades, he amassed an astounding collection of over 10,000 live recordings, carefully cataloging and storing the tapes in his Chicago home. In recent years, Seymour has partnered with a non-profit music preservation organization to slowly digitize the collection and make the recordings available to stream online for free, allowing music fans around the world to access this unique archive.

  • Seymour began attending and recording concerts in the 1980s.
  • Over the past four decades, Seymour has amassed a collection of over 10,000 live music recordings on cassette tapes.
  • In recent years, Seymour has partnered with a non-profit to digitize his collection and make the recordings available to stream online.

The players

Phillip Seymour

A 59-year-old Chicago resident who has attended and recorded over 10,000 live music concerts on cassette tapes over the past four decades.

Non-profit music preservation organization

An organization that has partnered with Seymour to digitize his collection of live music recordings and make them available to stream online for free.

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What they’re saying

“Preserving the live concert experience is a passion of mine, and I'm thrilled that my collection can now be shared with music fans around the world.”

— Phillip Seymour

What’s next

The non-profit organization plans to continue digitizing Seymour's collection and releasing new recordings for free streaming on a regular basis.

The takeaway

Seymour's dedication to documenting live music performances over the past four decades has resulted in a unique and invaluable archive that provides a window into the concert experience of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. As physical media formats decline, this project highlights the importance of preserving and sharing such personal passion projects to ensure that musical history is not lost.