Pre-Recorded Music cassette tapes and their prices.

I was just wondering why is it that pre-recorded music cassettes that are certain genres like Classic Rock, Heavy Metal, 80s/90s rock, grunge, alternative, and even rap and hip&hop sell for higher prices than any other genres. I'm referring to like ebay prices. Why don't country, jazz, classical command those higher prices? I just don't get it.

 

I would say supply and demand.

 

But why is there more demand for those other genres....that's what I don't understand. Cassette tapes are considered dead/obsolete format by the majority of consumers.

 

It’s the same as other formats. Country, classical and jazz don’t sell nearly as much on vinyl or cd as the genres you mentioned.

This is all my guess. I personally don’t enjoy them but I play in a band that had a release on a cassette only label. I never heard it because I don’t have a tape deck. Haha

 

John Schneider cassettes in 1984 Ford F150's are a thing of the past. Does Piggly Wiggly still exist? They sold lots of cassettes by the Slim Jim rack.

 

F150s are actually really expensive. Haha

 

I noticed that too....but why is there more demand for those genres in any format? Are there less people into jazz, country and classical?

 

Yes Piggly Wiggly still exists. Slim Jim racks are at the checkout. In the years I shopped the Pig I never saw any cassettes.

 

I have many pre-recorded cassettes. The hip-hop genre are pricey. Country ... I just sold a Tim McGraw single cassette yesterday. Otherwise its sort of a dead market.

I include a new clear cassette case with every sale as they get really grubby for some reason.

 

Where did you get the new clear cases?

 

I'm sure there are many, but I've had good luck with these:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01L9VBC4Q/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

I saw them at the Piggly in Jackson Mississippi. Lots Duke boys cassettes. Tons of General Lee stuff. 1984 F150's were affordable. Thoses rusted Ford vans are in every backyard below the Mason-Dixie line. Lotsa big hair gal country artists. I still see rebel flags in yards but deep South, like just NW of Mobile or near Dothan Alabam.

 

Well, there's this lady I met on Craigslist who had sold me over 60 new/sealed pre-recorded cassettes last year. They were mostly Rock music, and some heavy metal. She said she had a bunch more but they are all used in great condition. We agreed on 25 cents each. Again, mostly Rock music, and probably some Heavy Metal. If they are only worth 25 cents on Craigslist, why are they worth more on Discogs or eBay?

 

I suggest you try selling any music item on all 3 platforms and I'm sure you'll figure it out that it requires much more work and effort to sell on eBay and Discogs than it does on Craigslist.

 

It's like any other format: Certain genres and artists sell, others don't.

Classical collectors are all about sound quality. No way they want cassettes.

Country buyers are typically just about availability, so since you can get this stuff in better formats, they pass.

Rock buyers are often completists or collectors...so there's a market for some of this stuff on cassette.

 

What about hipsters? What genres do they like?

 

They don't buy anything, just stream.

 

That's not true. I went to a yardsales, where there was a bunch of vinyl records, CDs and some cassettes. All the hipsters were going through the vinyl records. So I"m sure they like certain genres.

 

Then you should have bought all the hip hop cassettes they left behind.

 

I was wondering about that too. I was buying a lot of cassettes when theyre phase out in 2004. .25 cents each. Now all of a sudden.
"okay this is a vintage.. I wonder what it cost. I'll put a price tag of 12.00., In fact Ill make it 15.00 plus 7.00 shipping"
When you get the cassette its vaporized due to the heat.

 

Ebay and discogs have global reach. In your local town you are the probably the only person interested in them. So the less the demand the lower the price..

 

Jazz and classical listeners are presumably more likely to be concerned with audio quality. Certainly CDs suited the classical listener.

I can't imagine why anyone would want to buy a pre recorded cassette. I didn't want them when they were popular first time. Home taping on the other hand could be rather good.

 

Well, hipsters claim that pre-recorded cassettes sounded better than CDs, since these tapes were recorded from 24bit/48khz digital masters. Also, if the CD was mastered loud, the cassette tape was more balanced in terms of dynamic range.