Taylor Swift, Harry Styles and soon the Spice Girls and Neil Young; They are not the least names of pop music who are also currently releasing their works on – yes – music tapes. The long record made a successful comeback years ago, but who is waiting for the C60 or C90 strips to come back?

It seems that there are enough consumers, because the cassette – with its heyday in the 80s – has become a serious niche market. From midnight Taylor Swift’s new album, for example, has already sold a few thousand in England.

“Just having it shoot music on cassette is cool, isn’t it?” says Thomas Bohr. He owns the only music tapes factory in the Netherlands. “This means a great confession.”

When Bohr captured De Bandjesfabriek at Lochem in Gelderse in 2017 and thus saved him from destruction in time, many people looked at him with pity: “You see, most people no longer see the usefulness of cassettes. But look at all that. Those people who play CDs.” Vinyl or they drive old cars. They often don’t do it for comfort or optimum quality, but for the experience. That’s all there is to it.”

Louk Boudesteijn, a passionate listener of car cassettes and a musician himself, knows why the music cassette is back. “In music and fashion, of course, you see the total Biology From the eighties and nineties. Just look at the street around you. All those sounds in the music, the clothes. The cassette is of course part of this as well. I seriously started thinking about making a cassette tape myself. genuinely. If you want to release a vinyl record now, there is a one-year waiting period. This is an argument too, isn’t it? It’s just fun, nothing more, nothing less.”

Excelsior Recordings publishes music by artists such as Danny Vera, The Cake, Tim Knoll, and Spinface. “We’re looking at the releases that it’s also good to shoot on cassettes in smaller editions,” says Jim Remers on behalf of Excelsior. “And to get this old music company to pay attention again.” “The editions are always small, 40 or 50 pieces. We’ve been made by Spinvis with 1,000 copies.”

He believes it will always be a niche market. “It’s just a nice tool to promote junior artists in particular. I’m also in a band and coincidentally our new record is coming out on Friday. Also on cassette. Just have some extras to sell after your performance.”

Approximately 35,000 cassette tapes will be produced in Luchem this year. Recently released music from Luchem composed by Danny Vera, Bloodzone and Jet Rebel. Old work by André Hazes and Normal is on its way.