Surge in Popularity
The 90s is making a sublime comeback, not only in style and fashion, but also in the form of cassette tapes.
These little pieces of plastic and magnetic tape have been resurfacing lately, with some major stores carrying cassettes and cassette players despite the continued rising popularity of digital music and streaming platforms.
Retro Rise
Cassettes saw double digit sales growth in the US last year, according to Genius. Cassette sales grew by almost 19 percent from 99,400 to 118,200 copies sold in the US alone.
Bands such as Pearl Jam and Smashing Pumpkins have been releasing their records on casette tapes, and surprisingly, they’ve been selling out from pre-sales alone.
Vinyl is also on the rise — but data reveals that vinyl is more popular among older records, while cassettes are more popular for newer albums. Meanwhile, CDs are dead.
Closing Thoughts
People adore cassettes because it produces that beautiful analog sound — a sound that our ears are made to listen to and love.
We might be living in some sort of dystopian future, but some things from the past are starting to make a comeback in a real, and physical way.
I’ve developed a habit of keeping numerous small cassette recorders in my house and in a bag with me so that I’m able to commit to tape memory song ideas on a constant basis. — Dwight Yoakam