Musical Nostalgia: Cassette Tape Sales Rise in 2017

After witnessing the return of vinyls in recent years, we now have another old format gaining relevance. A survey of the United States found that cassette sales had their best year since 2012. For the youngest, it is worth explaining: the cassette (or compact cassette) was launched in 1963 by the Dutch Philips, and the name may also be abbreviated only to "K7".

The data are from the American Nielsen (see more), which reported the sale of nearly 130, 000 units in 2016, representing a growth of over 70%. In the most recent survey, we have a new growth, now 35%: 174, 000 units were sold in 2017.

Interestingly, just like vinyls, it's not just nostalgia for older generations. The most romantic way to listen to music lies behind the success of movies and series.

Sales are behind the success of "Guardians of the Galaxy, " Marvel's 2014 American film. The soundtrack was one of the highlights of the production and represents a large part of the tape sales. Following in 2017 is the soundtrack for "Stranger Things", a series that was also very popular for portraying the music and other elements of the 1980s. Other popular albums were the 2002 "The Eminem show"; “Nervermind” by Nirvana (1991) and “Yeezus” by Kanye West (2013).

Last year, we also got the word that Japanese music company Sony Music has remade vinyl after 30 years. This process had been interrupted in 1989 with the arrival of CDs. As for cassette tapes, we can still assume that the movement is transient, but record sales are really significant: 17.2 million units in the US in 2016

According to an article in the newspaper "O Globo" last year, the space is getting smaller for the sale of physical products in retailers in Brazil. This is already foreseen in a context where streaming services allow the user access to a library with millions of tracks, having spent around $ 15 per month. Despite this, we are already seeing the wave of vinyls gaining momentum here, as in other countries.

Opinions are divided about the audio quality of vinyl to digital, but it is certainly a very different experience, given that vinyl also comes with a tactile and visual feature. The older ones miss them, and the younger ones ... want to know "what it was like".

Musical Nostalgia: Cassette Tape Sales Rise in 2017 via TecMundo