Gross sales of cassette tapes have reached their highest degree in 20 years, in accordance with new analysis.
As Radio X reviews, the British Phonographic Business (BPI) discovered that the recognition of the format had elevated for 10 consecutive years. The gross sales of cassettes, nevertheless, stay a lot decrease than these of vinyl information.
The entire variety of cassette tape gross sales has risen from 3,823 in 2012 to greater than 195,000 in 2022.
It’s mentioned that the spike has been pushed by current releases from main acts corresponding to Arctic Monkeys, Harry Types and Florence + the Machine.
Per the BPI, all 20 of final 12 months’s biggest-selling cassettes had been launched in 2022.
Mark Burgess, Founding father of Flashback Information in north London, instructed Sky Information that cassette gross sales had “shot up” at his store post-pandemic.
He mentioned the old-school format appealed to youthful music followers specifically on account of its “collectability”.
“As a result of cassettes are a smaller format, it’s simpler to arrange a group,” he defined. “Additionally, individuals wish to have an album of music that’s sequenced in the way in which an artist initially meant it to.”
In 2022 vinyl outsold CD for the primary time in 35 years, figures launched again in January revealed.
In line with BPI spokesperson Paul Williams, cassette tapes are at present having fun with the same resurgence.
“Not way back, individuals would have written off the cassette, however I feel you must be taught the teachings of the vinyl market which had an unbelievable revival,” he mentioned. “It’s one thing at a decrease degree, however it’s occurring now with cassettes.”
As NME‘s Sam Moore wrote again in February: “For a lot of artists, the attraction of releasing their music on vinyl, CD or cassette centres across the notion of furthering their creativity and, after all, fostering a extra bodily reference to their followers.”
In 2020, Glass Animals drummer Joe Seaward instructed NME that, for his band, the prospect to launch their ‘Dreamland’ album on cassette was “a very nice excuse to make one thing lovely that individuals can have as a chunk of artwork”.
“Individuals are watching previous TV exhibits, movies and listening to previous music,” Seaward defined, citing the pattern of “nostalgia”. He added: “I feel that is perhaps partly to do with why the cassette is having a little bit of a resurgence.”
