Are Cassette Tapes Making A Comeback With Illinois Music Fans?

Don't look now but that box of old cassettes in your basement that you never got rid of could now be worth money.

Cassette Tapes Are Making A Comeback In Illinois

I'm a huge music fan and collecting it is my hobby. Even though sometimes I do use streaming services for convenience, I much prefer physical media. For me, it's vinyl, CD's, and DVD's.

READ MORE: Vinyl Is Back In A Big Way In Illinois

As a music fan and collector, I was very concerned when digital took over the world and people stopped purchasing physical copies of their favorite bands. I was afraid that the actual versions would go away forever and be replaced with songs in the cloud.

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Then the world changed. People were stuck at home because of Covid. Everything they watched and listened to was on streaming services. They got bored so they started pulling out the old physical copies and the lightbulb went off. This is much better than digital so they started collecting the real versions again.

Vinyl had already started making a small comeback before that time but then there was a huge boom. That led music fans to start collecting other physical media again like CDs, DVDs, books, and even VHS tapes. They were also going out and buying vintage stereo systems.

There was a huge surprise. Cassettes have also made a comeback. Last year over 430,000 were sold in the United States alone. In the grand scheme of things, that's not an outrageous number but considering the format was pretty much dead, that is a big deal.

WGN

Of course, music fans are looking for the original versions of their favorite albums on cassettes but that's not it. Bands are putting their new releases on tape and the consumers are buying them. It just makes me smile.