Publicity is Cool?
The only thing I can come up with that explains this mini-revival of cassette tapes is a desperate need to find a way to stand out:
The last car to ship with a tape deck was the 2010 Lexus SC 430. Sony stopped making the Walkman last October. This can mean only one thing: Cassettes are about to be cool again. Indeed, upstart labels like Crash Symbols, Volar, and Bathetic are putting out cassette-only releases. Indie rock favorite the Mountain Goats recently came out with a tape of rarities, and established noise-pop bands Joan of Arc and Of Montreal are also putting out their new albums on cassette.
How many people in the core music buying demographic (teens) even have a tape deck? This is an interesting publicity stunt, but I can't see it having legs. I understand that big audiophiles prefer vinyl (for the analog sound), but tapes? Seriously?
