We’re not sure what’s more surprising; that cassette tapes are making a comeback, or that the world has apparently run out of materials to keep with demand.
It might be hard to believe, but the numbers are in: 35,000 cassette tapes were sold in the UK alone during the first half of 2019. Sales during the same period in 2018 were 18,000, less than half as much.
The biggest names on cassette sales are Billie Eilish with When We Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? (4,000 copies), Catfish and The Bottlemen’s The Balance (3,000), Madonna’s Madame X and Hozier’s Wasteland Baby.
As it turns out, manufacturers were just as caught by surprise by these figures as the rest of us, and have literally run out of a key component, the elusive and coveted gamma ferric oxide. Amazingly, there is exactly one factory in the entire world that produces this stuff, and it’s currently under construction, severely limiting its productivity.
The situation was laid down in a recent letter by the National Audio Company, America’s biggest producer of cassette tapes. In it, they assure that they “are presently keeping all customers supplied as fast as raw materials arrive here.”
Let’s hope this shortage is resolved soon. Until it does, this might be a good time to go look for your old trusty walkman. We think ours is in the basement somewhere!
