Cassette Tape
Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, and Tupac Receiving Cassette Reissues
Tapehead City is celebrating Death Row Records’s 30th birthday in the most ’90s way possible. The popular cassette retailer is giving Death Row albums by Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, and Tupac their very first cassette reissues since the decade they were originally released in. The collection will include four seminal projects that every hip-hop head will know: Dr. Dre’s The Chronic, Snoop Dogg’s Doggystyle, 2Pac’s All Eyez On Me, and his follow-up The Don Killuminati (The 7 Day Theory). Like vinyl, tapes present a fun opportunity for labels to choose colors that match the artwork and mood of the albums themselves, and Tapehead chose hues that are unique to these special releases. The Chronic will be available in “chronic” green, “up in smoke” smoke tint, and “standard” white with b...
UK Cassette Sales Have Doubled in 2020
In the latest proof that younger generations are just as insufferably nostalgic as Baby Boomers, cassette tape sales are on the rise. The US market has grown by as much as 35% in recent years, with over 219,000 tapes sold in 2018. But that’s nothing compared to the surge seen in the UK, where, according to the Official Charts company, sales have more than doubled in 2020. So far this year, Englanders have purchased 65,000 cassette tapes, an increase of 103% (!) compared to the same period last year. UK sales overall are on pace to top 100,000 for the first time since 2003. Cassette tapes, it should be noted, suck. It’s the second-worst audio format of the last 50 years, surpassing only the execrable 8-track, and coming in well south of the fidelity offered by CDs and vinyl. Peaking in popu...
