The demand for physical media has rubber banded for another format – Cassette Tapes!
Turns out folks are flocking to the old format at almost the same rates as other Physical medias like CDs and Records.
The total number of cassette tape sales has risen from 3,823 in 2012 to more than 195,000 in 2022.
https://www.nme.com/news/music/cassette-tape-sales-at-20-year-high-3432784
We think the same things driving a resurgence for tapes:
- Ownership – People are like owning things
- Data issues – People like not having to worry about data usage and bandwidth concerns.
- Patronage – People like supporting artists they like and physical media is a way to do that.
How are people listening to these cassette tapes and CDs?
Folks like FiiO have jumped back into the pool with brand new portable devices like the https://fiio.eu/product/fiio-dm13-portable-cd-player and of course some folks like yours truly still have their trusty old Sony Sports Walkman!