>i had one of my albums put out on cassette by a boutique label
>in the uk. limited run. we sold all of them. came w/ a QR code
>for digital downloads. it's a niche thing. if it were anything
>more than that, kitschy chain stores like urban outfitters
>would have adopted it like they adopted vinyl.


one of the (thriving) music stores in my town just recently started buying and selling used cassettes after years of not doing it

why you ask?

consumer demand.

>what's going to happen when kids who were born in the last 10
>years who never grew up with physical media are old enough to
>be speaking with their wallets?

i would be careful not to lump all kids into the same category...but i imagine that many of them as they hit their teens and early twenties will be buying vinyl and spinning records just like 20 something hipsters nowadays who were born after labels essentially ceased producing vinyl for anything but promo/DJ purposes.

myself i have 3 kids born in the last 10 years and the two that are old enough are very aware of physical media for music because i'm not going to let them not know haha.


>i collect oddities. two headed piglets in jars of formaldehyde
>and stuff like that. there's a market for that, too. but it's
>not like i can go into bed, bath and beyond or homegoods to
>get it. maybe physical media will still be available in 10
>years, but it certainly won't be widely available and record
>labels who only look at numbers aren't going to waste their
>money on P&D (pressing and distribution) when 80% of their
>buyer base is going through digital outlets like iTunes or
>streaming service like Spotify.
>

but there will be small labels who can look at their markets, crunch the numbers, and deliver product (whether it be from artists not signed to majors or music licensed from other labels) to that market

even if not "as" avaialable, it will be available and there will continue to be a market for used vinyl/CDs as well.



>the writings on the wall already. let's get real about it.

this is what people were saying 15 years ago man...yet these labels are still pressing CDs, some are even pressing tapes and the amount of vinyl that is pressed and sold has to be higher than it was then (please correct me if i'm wrong)


again, you're not totally wrong, but i just don't see physical music media ever completely disappearing...

and if it does, it will fucking suck donkey balls.