Swift’s latest release is part of a growing trend among mainstream artists.
After Taylor Swift announced her latest album, “The Life of a Showgirl,” fans began pre-ordering limited-release vinyls, CDs and even cassette tapes.
Yes, that’s right: cassette tapes. While their popularity is nowhere near what it was in the 1980s when they were the main form of listening to music, mainstream artists like Swift and Sabrina Carpenter are selling cassette tapes of their music.
While it may have been a while since the average person has bought a cassette tape, Andrew Mall, associate music professor at Northeastern University, says cassettes have percolated on the music scene and have become popular again over the last 10 to 15 years. There were 436,400 cassettes sold in the United States in 2023, up from 80,720 cassettes sold in 2015.
“The cassette didn’t ever really die,” says Mall. “The sales are still minuscule, but what’s been bringing it back is the interest in the cassette as an aesthetic object.”
Mall said the resurgence of cassettes began with small labels and artists and has since expanded to more mainstream ones like Swift. Labels now sell them alongside vinyls and CDs.
Much like some people buy and display vinyls, many like cassette tapes for the same reasons. And at price points ranging from approximately $20 to $25, cassettes are cheaper than vinyls, which can start at upwards of $30.
“That’s more affordable for younger collectors, listeners and fans,” Mall said. “Just like there are super fans of vinyl, there’s super fans of cassettes as well.”
Cassettes also allow people to listen on the go, if they want, and to enjoy music without being on their phone. More companies are even selling cassette players.
But Mall said cassettes are not about to replace vinyls as a listening experience.
“The sonic quality of cassettes degrades much faster than the sonic quality of records,” Mall said. “It only takes a few dozen listens to start to hear that cassette degrade. With records, I have plenty that I’ve spun more than a few dozen times and if you have your record player calibrated correctly, you shouldn’t hear an audible degradation until 100 or 200 spins.”
Beyond this, cassette players don’t allow for the same sort of setup many audiophiles indulge in with their record players.
While people might not be listening to cassettes the same way as they do vinyls, they still provide another revenue stream for record labels, Mall said.
“(Some fans) might not be buying records. They might not be able to afford tickets to see Taylor Swift next time she tours,” Mall said. “So it’s a way to get listeners engaged.”
In addition to her cassette, Swift is once again selling certain exclusive vinyls of her new album, much like she did with her last album. This time, though, each pressing is being advertised as the only one of its kind and available for a limited time.
“That’s a new strategy,” Mall said. “It promotes the idea of scarcity. Taylor Swift records are not scarce, but if you’re going to do a limited release that is truly limited, that’s actually going to build up excitement for the overall rollout and product.”