To return to the stammering of the cassette, you have to go to the premises of the Philips company in Hasselt. At the head of the audio department, there is Lou Ottens. The man will lead a team responsible for creating the first cassette. And in this team, there is Gilbert Mesdtagh. It is he who signs the first K7. His name fell into oblivion, so much so that no photo of him seems to exist on the internet.
Basically, this famous cassette aims to record its own voice, and by extension of music. It is then that users will create their first compils … and start making the first illegal copies of music too. For the team that works on it, a watchword: the cassette must hold in the pocket. It is small, compact and easily transportable. The invention will be presented at the Berlin International Radio Fair in 1963 and the patent filed the same year. Its marketing starts in Europe two years later, then in the United States. But what will really boost the sales of cassettes is the arrival of the Walkman from Sony in 1979. The story tells that its inventor wanted to listen to music by plane. Quickly, sales fly away and exceed those of the 33 vinyl towers.
After loss of speed at the end of the 1990s and in the 2000s following the arrivals of the CD then of MP3 readers, the cassettes are Returned cool for ten years. They are inexpensive, cheaper than vinyls which also have the rating. Or the Gen Z seems to appreciate returning to physical supports. And The music industry understood this. Several artists have emerged albums on cassettes, such as Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish or Sabrina Carpenter.
“Without Belgian, no …” is a new Vews sequence which offers you to discover or rediscover these inventions, innovations or exploits that we owe to Belgians and which are today part of our daily life.
