Cassette tapes are making a comeback. Yes

Summary

For a supposedly obsolete music format, audio cassette sales seem to be set on fast forward at the moment. Cassettes are fragile, inconvenient and relatively low-quality in the sound they produce – yet we’re increasingly seeing them issued by major artists. Is it simply a case of nostalgia? Press play The cassette format had its heyday during the mid-1980s, when tens of millions were sold each year. However, the arrival of the compact disc (CDs) in the 1990s, and digital formats and streaming in the 2000s, consigned cassettes to museums, second-hand shops and landfill. The format was well and truly dead until the past decade, when it started to reenter the mainstream. According to the British Phonographic Industry, in 2022 cassette sales in the United Kingdom reached their highest level since 2003. We’re seeing a similar trend in the United States, where cassette sales were up 204.7% in the first quarter of this year (a total of 63,288 units). A number of major artists, including Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, Lady Gaga, Charli XCX, the Weeknd and Royel Otis have all released material on cassette. Taylor Swift’s latest album, The Life of a Showgirl, is available in 18 versions across CDs, vinyl and cassettes. The physical product offerings for Taylor Swift’s latest album, The Life of a Showgirl. Taylor Swift Many news article will tell you a “cassette revival” is well underway. But is it? I would argue what we’re seeing now is not a full-blown revival. After all, the unit sales still pale in comparison to the peak in the late 1990s, when some 83 million were reportedly sold in one year in the UK alone. Instead, I see this as a form of rediscovery – or for young listeners, discovery. Time to pause Recorded music today is mostly heard through digital channels such as Spotify and social media. Meanwhile, cassettes break and jam quite easily. Choosing a particular song might involve several minutes of fast forwarding, or rewinding, which clogs the playback head and weaken...