Taylor Swift To Put New Album On Cassette

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Taylor Swift To Put New Album On Cassette

Image courtesy of Taylor Swift via IG // Illustration by Kate Walker

Taylor Swift’s next album, The Life of a Showgirl, will reportedly be available on cassette tape… and, shocker, it may be a good business strategy.

The Big Picture: Back in the 1980s, cassette was the hottest audio format in town, with 440 million sold during the decade. The format quickly fell out of favor when CDs hit the scene… and then streaming unseated physical media entirely. But mirroring the resurgence of vinyl in recent years, cassettes are making a small but noticeable comeback among fans seeking a more analog experience.

Between The Tracks: Will everyone you know be bumping The Life of a Showgirl on Sony Walkmans this October?

Maybe everyone under the age of 30.

According to Luminate, 436,400 cassettes sold in the US — a major jump from 80,720 in 2015.
That increase in demand is being driven by Gen Z — 9% purchased a cassette in the past year.
Top-selling artists on cassette include radio mainstays like Sabrina Carpenter, Charli XCX, and Chappell Roan.

Last Listen: The appeal of cassette is similar to that of vinyl — admiring the cover art, flipping the tape halfway through, and enjoying the entirety of the album. It’s a more intimate experience that requires people to slow down and digitally disconnect. Even the lack of polish compared to streaming is part of the charm.

And this won’t be Swift’s first time on cassette — 1989 (Taylor’s Version) sold 17,500 copies in the format, while Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) sold 11,500. For TSwift’s “super fans,” owning her music in every format available may become a point of pride.

Prediction: Prepare for an influx of next-gen cassette players to hit the market this fall in an attempt to capture the zeitgeist. Even the landline is making a cool comeback.