Anyone old enough to remember using a pencil to wind the magnetic film back into a chewed-up cassette tape may well wonder why anyone would want to dabble with such antiquated technology. You had to fast forward to get to the song you wanted, usually overshooting the start, and the sound quality had nothing on today’s digital offerings. But it’s precisely the sound, often described as “warm”, that appeals to older collectors, as well as a new generation for whom pencils and recorded music hold no connection. “Old guys are buying for their memories. Young people are buying to try. They think it’s trendy,” Stephen Ho, a collector from Hong Kong, tells Larry Ryan in The Guardian.
East Asia has experienced much of the boom in sales. Record shops in Tokyo have been expanding their cassette sections, “signalling a resurgence of compact analogue recording media”, says Megumi Kito on Nikkei Asia. Last September, Tower Records in the Shibuya district multiplied its stock of old and new tapes by a factor of six as sales have continued to grow in recent years.
“Cassettes seem to come across to the younger generation as ‘new and cute’ things,” Ko Takeda, who heads the cassette section, tells the paper.
Subscribe to MoneyWeek
Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE
Sign up to Money Morning
Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter
Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter
Tapes are also cheaper to manufacture than vinyl LPs which is reflected in retail prices, says Matthew Kronsberg in Bloomberg Businessweek. A new vinyl record can cost $35 in the US, a tape a mere $10, but the latter still provides “a similar analogue experience”. “It may be lower fidelity, but it’s also more playful and more portable,” he says. TV series Stranger Things and the blockbuster superhero film Guardians of the Galaxy, both with their depictions of life in the 1980s, have also helped to make the decade cool.
Crucially, cassettes are also affordable to the youngest of new collectors. That’s not lost on pop superstar Taylor Swift, who counts many of them among her fans. Her latest album, The Tortured Poets Department, sold 1.64 million physical units in its first week of release in April, of which 21,500 were cassettes, according to music magazine Billboard. That’s a long way behind the 859,000 LPs that were sold, to be sure, but not bad for a format that until recently had been consigned to the attic of history.
Selling physical recordings is also a smart business move made by young musicians, who also include Billie Eilish, Kendrick Lamar and Dua Lipa. The per-click royalties musicians earn from streaming platforms such as Spotify are “infinitesimal” compared with the “far greater revenues that artists can earn from physical products”, as Ben Sisario points out in The New York Times.
In fact, such has been the take-up that new iterations of the 1980s Walkman are coming to market so that younger buyers will have something to play them on. Examples include the We Are Rewind WE-001 and the FiiO CP13. Some things really were better in the 1980s.
This article was first published in MoneyWeek's magazine. Enjoy exclusive early access to news, opinion and analysis from our team of financial experts with a MoneyWeek subscription.
-
Watch out for fake Steven Bartlett video – you could lose thousandsScammers are trying to tap into the Trump tariffs chaos, but knowing what to look out for could save you thousands of pounds, says Kalpana Fitzpatrick
-
Can Donald Trump fire Jay Powell – and what do his threats mean for investors?Donald Trump has been vocal in his criticism of Jerome "Jay" Powell, chairman of the Federal Reserve. What do his threats to fire him mean for markets and investors?
-
Out of America's shadow: Why Trump's tariff chaos may be good for non-US stocksOpinion Upending global investment and trade could benefit other countries at the expense of the US market, says Cris Sholto Heaton
-
BP's 'long, painful decline' – and why next year could be even tougherOpinion Long-suffering shareholders in oil giant BP have been pushing for change. It won’t come soon enough, says Matthew Lynn
-
Investment trusts tap the profits in exotic and obscure global marketsOpinion Peter Walls, manager of the Unicorn Mastertrust fund, highlights three investment trusts as he shares where he'd put his money
-
Falling revenues and mounting debt spell trouble for Jumia TechnologiesStruggling African e-commerce platform Jumia Technologies looks headed for the exit, says Dr Matthew Partridge.
-
Next reports £1 billion in annual profits for the first time – what's next for the retailer?Clothing retailer Next has become only the fourth member of its sector to surpass £1 billion in annual profits. What does this mean for the company's future?
-
Best of British bargains: cash in on undervalued companies in the UK stock marketOpinion Michael Field, Chief Equity Market Strategist, EMEA, Morningstar, selects three attractive UK stocks where he'd put his money
-
Building firm Keller presents low debt and ample scope for growthGeotechnical contractor Keller, which supports vital global infrastructure, boasts rising profits and a cheap valuation
-
PZ Cussons share price down 75% in last decade – why it's one to watchOpinion Once-strong consumer-goods business PZ Cussons is out of favour with the market. That spells opportunity for investors, says Jamie Ward
