Written by Callum Booth | 4 October 2024
Just when you thought people had run out of music formats to resurrect, it turns out that cassettes are having a moment.
According to the BPI, British sales of the format in 2022 rose by 5.2% year-on-year, reaching 195,000 units. In fact, some of that year’s releases — including Florence + The Machine’s latest album — actually sold more copies on cassette than vinyl when they debuted.
On Catawiki, we’re seeing a similar surge. Searches for ‘cassette’ and all related search words (cassettes, cassette deck, cassette player, etc) increased by 53% in 2024, compared to 2023.
This all raises a huge question though: why?
Most physical music format revivals are easy to understand. The resurgence of vinyl, for example, had a huge aesthetic quality to it. No one can argue that it’s not supremely pleasing to hold a record and take in that gorgeous 12” artwork.
The resurrection of CDs is also quite easy to grasp. They’re currently relatively cheap to collect and are often the easiest way to get hold of lossless digital music, making it ideal for fans searching for the highest quality tunes around.
But cassettes? Those little card-sized boxes that often produce warped, hissing sound? That always seemed to break? How come they’re so popular?
Well, we’re on a mission to find out — and help you discover if this trend is for you.
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Why cassette tapes disappeared
“The simplest answer is because of the advent of CD,” says Ariel Cabello, senior expert of Audio Equipment at Catawiki. Philips developed the compact cassette back in 1962, but it wasn’t until the 1970s that the sound quality of the format was able to compete with vinyl. Yes, a good quality cassette tape and player can produce music that sounds as good as vinyl.Following this technological advancement, the format took off, but that wasn’t the only reason cassette tapes seriously challenged vinyl’s prominence.
First off, as Hua Hsu says in ArtForum, “record companies began trying to persuade consumers to repurchase their favourite LPs on cassette.” This provided a cultural impetus for the format to go mainstream, but this wouldn’t have happened without the innate benefits of tape.
It sounds strange to say it now, but before cassettes were released you couldn’t easily pause, rewind, or fast-forward music. Doing this on a record player was incredibly fiddly, as you had to physically move the arm. But a tape? It was as simple as pushing a button.
There was another element that made cassettes incredibly popular though: they could be recorded on. For the first time ever, people could make mixes, and tape songs from the radio, vinyl records, or even other cassettes.
The final reason for the original popularity of cassettes was how transportable they were. Anyone who has held a vinyl record knows there’s no way you’re going to be able to listen to that on the bus. But a cassette tape? Something smaller than a novella? Easy peasy.
It’s why the Sony Walkman was such a resounding success when it was released in 1979. For the first time ever, people could easily listen to music of their choice on the go. All these factors drove cassettes to ubiquitousness. In the mid-1980s, 900 million cassette tapes were sold every year. Sadly for some though, didn’t last.
“When the CD appeared in the beginning of the 80s,” Cabello says, “it took over very rapidly.”
According to Cabello, the success of the CD was down to the fact it was “a much simpler device.” Here was a disc, something that didn’t get tangled up or stuck, had high levels of sound quality, and was convenient. With prices of CD players becoming attainable, it didn’t take long for cassettes to be relegated to history. By 1991, compact discs were outselling their tape counterparts. The era of cassettes was over.
Or so we thought.
Understanding the revival
As with any sort of revival, it’s hard to make concrete conclusions from something that’s organic and driven by the underground. Of course, though, we can make some guesses.
The easiest explanation for why cassettes are getting popular again is a connection to the past, both for people who lived through the tape era and those, such as Gen-Z, who didn’t.
“We’re in a nostalgic era,” Cabello says, “everything that’s analogue or has high-fidelity sound is coming back. It’s a statement.”
This gets to the core of the issue. There’s something special about having a physical piece of art in your hand. Although a cassette may not feel as luxurious as, say, a record, there’s something utilitarian about it. You can slip it in your pocket, throw it in your bag, and easily carry it about. There’s a DIY element to the format.
Backing this up, Iain Taylor — a lecturer in music industries at Birmingham City University — says that the success of cassettes displays that “the cultural enjoyment of music goes far beyond narrow debates about sound quality.
Instead, he argues, music is “a complex and deeply social thing that engages more than just our ears.
”The cassette revival isn’t just about music. Even though tapes have a warm, analogue sound to them, it’s about more than that. To many, this resurgence is about returning to a cherished era, one that might feel more relevant and legitimate than our current one. It’s a physical reminder of a particular approach to music, one where we value it and hold it, which is a million miles away from Spotify.
To put it another way, Jon Michaud in The New Yorker said that, “like human beings, the cassette tape is analogue, flawed, and perishable.”That’s why we, as people, long for these types of music formats: we see ourselves in them.
Most-wanted cassette players
At this point, maybe you’re thinking about getting involved in the cassette revival, but where do you start? Well, the first step is buying a cassette player. When it comes to the machines people are purchasing, Catawiki’s Cabello sees two main trends: the aesthetic and technical.
The former are people looking for devices that look fantastic, while the latter attract those who care deeply about the sound they produce.
On the aesthetic side, Cabello sees devices from Bang & Olufsen and Mario Bellini garnering a lot of attention, as well as toploader cassette decks.
“People are also paying a premium for devices with physical view meters, where a needle moves in time with the music.”
When it comes to technical equipment, there’s a range of things Cabello sees the public looking for. One such element is hardware with ‘DBX noise reduction systems,’ and another sought-after feature is ‘GX heads’, both of which help to get the best sound quality from tapes.
Picking up a cassette player and tapes
One of the things that’s helping drive the cassette revival is the fact there’s so much good equipment still out there.
Speaking with Cabello, he explains that because many of the cassette players were so well made back in the 70s and 80s, most of the machines still work today. “They’re easy to maintain,” he says. All people need to do is take it to an expert who can “change the belts and recording reels” and the machine will be as good as new.
These devices can be purchased from a lot of retailers, but it’s still often good to visit a place like Catawiki where experts will verify what’s being sold, so you know you’re getting a reputable piece of equipment.
While there are a variety of brands that make well-regarded players, Akai and Nakamichi produced some of the best machines, so it’s worth looking at them.
And the cassettes themselves? You can get pre-recorded tapes from record stores, online marketplaces, and even live gigs. If you’re after blank tapes, it’s best to go for a trusted brand like TDK and buy some factory-sealed units, something you can find on Catawiki.
What happens next?
It’s nigh-on impossible to predict the future of cassettes precisely, but one thing’s for sure: they’re not going anywhere. As long as there are music enthusiasts, there will be people looking to experience the format in all its forms, from vinyl to cassettes to CDs. Trends may come and go, but there’ll always be a contingent who support and adore all the benefits cassette tapes bring.
Cassettes are dead, long live cassettes.
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