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Gen Z are flocking to buy music cassettes tapes - but don't know how to play them
Members of Gen Z are embracing classic cassette tapes - even if they can't quite figure out how to play them.
Amy Campbell, 26, recently bought her first cassette, a Kacey Musgraves album, only to find out she had no clue how to use it, the Wall Street Journal reported.
'I struggled a little bit,' she admitted.
'You have to keep fast-forwarding, rewinding, pausing and playing to find the right song you want,' Campbell added.
Gen Z - raised on streaming services like Spotify - are now getting a crash course in the '80s and '90s technology.
Modern stars like Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo, and Charli XCX are fueling the trend by releasing new music on the format.
Members of Gen Z are embracing classic cassette tapes - even if they can't quite figure out how to play them
One 26-year-old recently bought her first cassette, a Kacey Musgraves album (Musgraves pictured on stage), only to find out she had no clue how to use it
Cassette sales are on the rise, with over 430,000 sold in the U.S. last year – five times the number from a decade ago, the WSJ reported.
The trend began surging last year - with sales hitting a two-decade high, following a resurgence in vinyl as music lovers turned to more traditional formats.
Some 195,000 cassettes were bought in the U.K. in 2022 – up 5.2 percent in a year and the tenth annual consecutive increase, according to the British Phonographic Industry (BPI).
Two of Taylor Swift's re-recorded albums, created by an artist too young to have experienced the cassette's heyday, were among 2023's top-selling tapes.
Cassette sales are on the rise, with over 430,000 sold in the US last year – five times the number from a decade ago
For some, the appeal of cassettes lies in their unique sound quality.
'I like how nostalgic it sounds,' said Campbell, referring to the characteristic crackle of tape play.
Others appreciate the lower price point compared to vinyl and the portability for travel.
'I think they are convenient,' Emily Taylor, 25, told the WSJ.
She explained that she packs Ariana Grande cassettes for long rides in order to reserve her phone battery.
'I'm glad cassettes are back,' she added.
Others are not as pleased about the resurgence.
For some, the appeal of cassettes lies in their unique sound quality. Others appreciate the lower price point compared to vinyl and the portability for travel
'It's a cash cow now,' Jen Long, who used to run a cassette label, told the WSJ.
'It's another format to get you up the charts and milk money from people.'
Long, who used to work to boost sale of cassettes, now she said she 'feels bad for the amount of plastic we had to put out into the world.'
The cassette tape was developed by Philips in the early 1960s - but its heyday came two decades later when the popularity of the Sony Walkman helped to drive sales in the U.K. alone to a peak of 83 million in 1989.