In recent years, we’ve seen vinyl records become popular among music fans, but the humble cassette tape is also back on the audio scene, with sales skyrocketing. Why are people buying cassette tapes again, and what’s fueling this comeback? Our explainer will answer those questions and more!
The Death and Rebirth of Cassette Tapes
The cassette tape has a long history, with its origins dating back to the early ‘60s. Many consider its heyday to be the ‘80s, and its affordable price made it the go-to medium for music-lovers over vinyl records.
Eventually, though, the compact disc emerged in the ‘90s. By the 2000s, the iPod and online streaming libraries practically killed the cassette tape. But as vinyl records came back into vogue, the cassette tape also saw a resurgence, and the pandemic provided an even bigger boom in cassette sales.
Cassette tapes have returned, but why are cassette tapes making a comeback in the music industry?
The Nostalgia Factor
There’s no doubt that a primary reason why many people are going back to the old ways of listening to music is the nostalgic factor. A cassette tape isn’t just a piece of plastic and magnetic tape to many people, but a reminder of their younger selves and experiences 20–30 years ago.
Cassette sales aren’t just for aging Gen-Xers and millennials, though. Even young people who weren’t alive for the golden era of cassette tapes are still purchasing them because even if they don’t have a personal connection, perhaps their older siblings and parents do.
Cassette tapes are retro, fun, and different from the standard digital libraries young music fans often use. With cassettes, they can go to the store, buy them, and hold the music in their hands, which is an altogether different and more connective experience than downloading it on their phones.
The Affordable Collectable
Vinyl records were the first physical media to receive a nostalgic resurgence in the twenty-first century, but new LPs can be expensive. On the other hand, cassette tape has always been inexpensive to produce and affordable to purchase.
The cassette tape offers the same collectible and nostalgic benefits as vinyl LPs at a lower price. A collection of your favorite albums on cassette is likely to cost half as much as those identical vinyl albums. So it’ll naturally be popular among fans, even if it doesn’t offer the same sound quality.
There are many other reasons for the cassette comeback, but those are some of the key factors. If you’re feeling sentimental about the cassette days of the ‘80s, there’s no better time to dig out your collection and start adding to it again!
