Cassettes dominated the musical album market in the 1980s and 90s before being knocked off by CDs. In 2012, annual sales of cassettes dropped below 4,000 units. But purchases of the retro format have regained popularity in recent years, with sales growing for a tenth consecutive year in 2022.
Yet cassette tapes are having a moment. According to Luminate, an entertainment industry data collector, U.S. tape sales increased by more than 440 percent between 2015 and 2022. In the past few years, mainstream artists like Harry Styles, Billie Eilish, and Taylor Swift have all capitalized on the fad.
Whether your cassette tapes are worth some cash relies on a few factors. This media is no longer mass produced, so chances are, your cassette tapes are collectible! If you're a collector of vintage technology, you'll definitely want some cassette tapes, in addition to your vinyl.
It's possible to remove dirt and debris from cassettes with water damage if you do this correctly, however, professional cassette tape restoration is the best option. To replace a cracked or damaged shell, the tape needs to be carefully removed from the old housing and placed into a new one.
The resurgence of vinyl records has been so strong that it's not really even a “trend” anymore. In 2021, people spent more on vinyl than CDs for the first time since 1986. Cassette tape sales, on the other hand, have been very low for a long time.
In perfect circumstances, cassette tapes will only last about 30 years if properly stored away from heat, humidity, and UV rays. Whereas a CD stored in the same conditions can last over 100 years. Two common factors for cassette tape deterioration are heat and tape recorder malfunctions.
Due to the magnetic tape limitations of cassettes, noise intrusion can be more noticeable in a cassette and ultimately affect the sound quality. Even a cassette with noise reduction will have a smaller signal-to-noise ratio than a CD. So based on the facts, CDs are superior to cassettes.
The best way to recycle cassette tapes is to take them to a recycling center that specializes in electronics. They'll be able to properly recycle the tape, including the film inside, and the plastic shell it's housed in.
A reason for the recent boom, Hudacek says, is slower vinyl turnaround times due to pandemic supply-chain issues. “It's just cool to have a thing,” she says. “It's still a novelty-niche item. [With] these cassette-duplication services, the minimum run is 50 tapes, so you can experiment.
There's no easy way to say it, but your tapes are fading and will eventually die out. But there are some things you can do to prolong their life. Controlled storage – make sure your tapes are constantly stored between 50 – 70º F with 20-40% relative humidity for the best possible storage atmosphere.
Sales of pre-recorded music cassettes in the US dropped from 442 million in 1990 to 274,000 by 2007. Most of the major US music companies had discontinued production of pre-recorded cassettes by 2003.
Single albums in the 80s
If you can believe it, pre-recorded cassette tapes were on average about $6-8 for a single album. Of course, that depended on title and obscurity, but for the time (and to be able to listen to it on the go), that was a decent price.
The tape, called The Versace Experience - Prelude 2 Gold, was handed out to attendees of the Versace show at Paris Fashion Week in 1995 - and sold for $4,011, or £3,327. Steve also says trendy bands, like 80s alternative rock group The Pixies, can be a big hit with collectors.
“It allows artists of all types to release physical copies at affordable prices, and within a decent delivery time, especially when compared to vinyl wait times of at least 8 months,” Brownlie explains. Of the physical formats for music, cassettes are by far the cheapest to produce and often the cheapest to purchase.
Why are consumers drawn to cassettes? As for artists, buying cassettes is less risky than investing in vinyl. Purchasing bulk cassette orders could cost a band around $200, whereas vinyl runs can be over $2,000. The turnaround time is also a few weeks, and vinyl can take six months to produce.
According to Luminate CEO Rob Jonas, “Millennials in the U.S. are 42% more likely to buy cassette tapes than listeners from other generations” as a way to support their faves.
It's 2023 and the Sony Walkman is making a comeback, with two new models the company says provides “the next phase in the evolution of extraordinary sound”.
The 8-track tape format is now considered obsolete, although there are collectors that refurbish these tapes and players as well as some bands that issue these tapes as a novelty.
The quality of sound is scaled on the dynamic range, frequency response, and the signal-to-noise ratio. In all three of these measures, the cassette tape has a poorer quality measure than CDs and vinyl. But unless you're an expert audiophile, you might not notice these differences as much.
Video and audio tapes are non-biodegradable and can persist in landfill indefinitely adding to the growing e-waste problem. Instead they can be repaired or recycled through specialised services. Note: recyclers will likely only accept commercial quantities and not small amounts from households.
If you are running a well-worn chain, it will hugely impact the life of a cassette. If you change your chain every 1500 miles, you can expect a cassette to last around three chains which will be 4500. If you don't change your chain, you may only see 3000 miles out of a cassette.
For most, you can expect to get anywhere from 6-10 reusable recordings on your VHS tape before you'll begin to see a noticeable dip in audio and visual components. Which, if you really think about it, is a pretty decent amount of overwrites to pack into one cheap piece of magnetic tape wrapped in molded plastic.
Lots of audiophiles say that when it comes to sound quality, nothing beats vinyl.
Two of the best cassette-tape decks ever built were the Dragon and the “Dragon slayer” St. George Redux: Introduced in 1984, the Tandberg TCD 3014 tape deck earned the nickname “Dragon slayer” because it was designed to take on the Nakamichi Dragon, the most advanced tape deck in the world at the time.
Very few manufacturers are producing new cassette players, so if you are looking for a tape deck for home listening, chances are you'll have to rely on second-hand markets.