Well yesterday was a big release day for many new CD's and DVD's (U2 Singles + Live in Milan, The Beatles - LOVE, Tom Waits, Joan Osbourne, etc) and my local Tower Records are on their death beds. I now have to go to Junk Shop Best Buy which is a top ten mess of a store.The indie shops don't carry many DVD's so it's not logical to start using them - I'll end up at Best Buy or Borders anyway.

My question is what happened to Tower Records that they are in bankruptcy and had no one to merge with? How could it happen that this famous chain of VERY DEEP and RARE stock of CD's and DVD's is actually disappearing - anybody know the inside story? I understand that Tower.com is NOT affected as it wasn't part of the deal. Is Tower International going down too or are they not part of the bankruptcy?

Sad days for us Non top ten DVD and CD buyers.... Any info would be appreciated...

I think the "inside story" is that less and less people are actually buying CD's. Most music is now downloaded from the internet to iPods and the like. It is driving the music stores out of business. It is kind of sad, as we're seeing the closing of a great chapter where music is concerned. From vinyl to 8-tracks to cassettes to CD's to the internet means the traditional music store is becoming obsolete.

I do recall a time when I was in high school we would go to Wallach's Music City, on Sunset and Vine in Hollywood, and we could go into a booth and listen to records privately before buying them. I listened to a lot of Stones records there. Even a few years ago there were listening stations at a lot of music stores. Now we can listen to pretty much anything via the internet. I'm not saying it is all bad, but it is a real change in the music industry.

The Richmond, Va. store closed recently. Reasons given (if my memory is clear):


1. Too much debt from over-expansion
2. Heavy competition in large markets from Virgin
3. Heavy competition from on-line discounters
4. Internet piracy



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2006-11-22 20:02 by KSIE.

x



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2006-12-05 07:49 by Beelyboy.

The way music is now bought has changed. This is the begining of a big change. Remember when record stores said they would cut back on selling LP's in favour of CD's? Downloading has captured the young. In London over 25 years I have seen a dramatic loss of local record shops. I would normally go to the West End, London, to Tower Records or Virgin or another. But these days when I want a new release I always order it. In the face of a coming change that's what you and I shall have to do. Change. And I for one don't like change. The death of a record shop is a very truly sad thing. If I win the lottery I shall open one. Just for you and me.

the demise of Tower only seems to be in the US. Their non-US stores appear to be franchises so they're going to continue

The downloading point is interesting (and I'm sure a big part of the reason). I just saw on Bob Dylan's web site that you can download his ENTIRE body of work - called "The Collection" (plus about 40 rare tracks and a booklet) For 200 dollars !! That's an amazingly inexpensive price - some of the rare tracks aren't bad either. I guess it was greed, CD's were suppose to go down to under $10.00 but never really did... a real drag IMO...

In the early 70's as a kid I clearly remember being huddled around the radio every Tuesday lunchtime to hear BBC Radio 1 announce this weeks No.1. Artists had to shift an awful lot of units back then. Not anymore. But maybe that will come around again. As opposed to going out to buy your choice, you can now sit on your arse at home and dld it.

All the CD stores with a wide selection are closing down/have been closed down, where I come from (even the capital), while the surviving shops are the trashy ones, which only sell the big-grossing newer CDs. So, people who are interested in a wide selection, order stuff on the internet instead of walking out shopping, and the CDstores loose those customers....it's a chain effect. The music-business is too greedy, they are responsible for their own death.

Wake up and go to amazon.com

the prices were always way too much,every cd being 18.99 is nuts

Has anyone noticed that more and more major artists are releasing their music on vinyl as well as the other options. Vinyl rules. It's been about since before you were born and it's made a slight comeback. Rock on. They don't still sell expensive record players for no reason.

The "inside story" I heard from my friend in the record business for twenty years, was basically the same as what the other posters mentioned above -- competition, the internet, piracy, debt, and dwindling music sales. He says that sad as it may be, old fashioned customer-friendly "brick and mortar" music retail shops are basically on the way out, except as small specialty stores mostly in big cities.


In the case of Tower, my friend knows a few people who have been with Tower for many years, and his feeling was that once the writing was on the wall, the executives at Tower decided to pretty much run the business into the ground, in order to prolong the ride and hold onto their jobs and perks, rather than sell out or get taken over by a competitor. Rumor has it they've been fending off bankruptcy for years now, just barely hanging on, keeping things afloat with loans, financing, juggling the book-keeping, etc. He says that many of the big Tower executives and managers were longtime veterans of the music retail business, and many of his friends who worked there had the attitude that this was the "last ride into the sunset," they were just trying to hang on as long as they could, and keep it rolling until the last nickel had run out and the courts pulled the plug. Apparently the company is now so saddled with debt and owes so many people money, that very few investors would actually want to take it over.

It's all about the price of CDs. Sell them for $18.99 and go out of business. Sell them for $12.99 to entice more people to come into your store full of overpriced electronics and prosper. Simple economics. I for one have no sympathy for any retailer charging that much for CDs. Good riddance.

Vinyl rules. Rock on and goodnight.

It's weird

The 1st thing I did the 1st time I went to London as a student was to rush into Tower records.

End of an era...

[doctorstonesblog.blogspot.com]

I remebmer I used to go to the tower by my house and there was this guy who worked there that I thought was really cool. I"d by lots of stones CD's and Hed always talk about how cool they were back in the 60s and how he rememberd when those ablums came out Then one day I walked into that store and he was there demanding to speak to the manager to find out why he got fired and then he was escorted out by security... it was really strange. I have no idea what it was all about.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2006-11-23 02:40 by ryanpow.

Yep, the DC area stores are all gone. My first trip into a Tower, was in August of 1976, Tempe, Arizona....hard to believe they are gone....

JR

In a few years when the major touring acts retire we will be wondering what happened to Live Nation, Ultrastar and Ticket Master who were also killed by their own greed.

MicksBrain Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> >
>> Sad days for us Non top ten DVD and CD buyers....
> Any info would be appreciated...


Micks Brain, do you have Rasputin Records where you live? Just go there. or get music on line. It is sad that Towers going out of business but they werent the only show in town. you can get obsucre CD's and DVD's at plenty of other stores.

THeres also a record store in SF called Amoeba (speeling?) records, and im pretty sure theres one in Hollywood. They have hard to get stuff, but theyre too inconsistent. for one thing, they hardly have any stones cds at all. its like theyre saying "were so cool, we dont have to carry the stones"

ryanpow Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

>
> THeres also a record store in SF called Amoeba
> (speeling?)

unintentional irony alert!

you can't catch me!

You know it is so sad to see record stores going. I for one, though I'm only 30 and do own an IPod, am not one who embraces all of this technological muscial advancement. Nor do I keep up with it - I am kind of tech-challenged all things considered. LOL Growing up, I remember buying the tape, or CD once they were out, and hurrying home to put it on and listen to it while I read along to the lyrics or thumbed thru the photos. Now that I'm older and married with kids, I don't get those opportunities too often. I too hate Best Buy, and Target for that matter. Growing up in Connecticut, I liked the Circuit City there because they always seemed to carry a huge CD collection that included lots of imports as well. Here in upstate NY, the Circuit City sucks, the selection is much smaller and chuck full of shitty rap and bubble gum acts like Britney and the likes. I do buy CDs from Best Buy and Target though, because unfortunately these 2 chains seem to be the ones that get the special exclusive items - look at 4 Flicks and the new Who CD at Best Buy. If I can wait for the CD, I have a CD membership in yourmusic.com that allows me to build a Queue of CDs that I want and then 1 is automatically sent to me every month. The price for the CD? Just $5.99, and there's no shipping charges, and since I have it sent to my folks house in CT instead of here to Tax-Ya-Deadly NY, I pay no sales tax either, but even if I had to pay the sales tax, it's still worth it. I would definitely recommend this website to anyone interested in buying CDs. They don't stock everyone - I've never understood why some bands like Def Leppard, the Stones, the Beatles, Tesla are not in Record clubs. And it takes a few weeks to get the new releases, but I definitely recommend it. I've set up my Queue thru 2021! It's a great, inexpensive way to transfer over my old tape collection. I will never be without my music, the actual physical item produced for our enjoyment, not some downloaded track off of the internet.

It's very odd. I am 25 years-old, have about 1.200 cd's, 600 vinyls and 300 tapes of classical, jazz and popular music and have never, ever, downloaded anything from the web. Do not own any cd-r's either. Of course that makes me a sort of ave raris - strange bird among all my mates.
In London I have noticed that the amount of bookstores in Charing Cross Road and of old record shops in Hanway Street have both decreased dramatically. One of the reasons seems to be that young people feel they are just being ripped off by record companies, and that they would be therefore too stupid not to download them from the web.
To me, few things provide a grater pleasure than going into a shop, browse through the shelves, buy a record over the counter and then go home, unwrap it and listen to it while I have a beer and look at the artwork or read the booklet. Especially when everybody here in Santiago is going crazy over Shakira and her sold out concerts here. Can't stand her. I can't understand how Americans and Europeans find her cute, I think she is utterly unattractive.

they had a good run........35 years or so.........i think Amoeba Records in Hollywood was the nail in the coffin for them here in lala land



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2006-11-22 23:01 by Leonard Keringer.

The original Tower Records store is in Sacramento, my home town. I grew up about 2 miles or less from it. I often went there or to the other Tower stores and picked up numerous records there.

There was Tower Records and the Tower Theater (which is still there I believe), and later came Tower Books and perhaps more.

An institution from my childhood is gone. Makes me a bit sad.

TIME WAITS FOR NO ONE.

So . . . was the original Tower Records in San Francisco or Sacramento????

ryanpow and timbernardis, the puck has been dropped!!

CDs are too expensive, simple as that. The $18.99 asking price is ridiculous when the other options of aquiring music is easier and cheaper. Whether it is an IPod or stealing the options are much better than the so-called "list price".
There is a Barnes and Noble in my neighborhood and they seem to have a good collection of hard to find CDs that are priced accordingly but the new releases cost the same as these hard to finds - too expensive. So I go next door to the Best Buy and pay a little less but have 1/2 the selection. If I want a new release and Best Buy is still too expensive there is always Wal-Mart who charges even less than Best Buy but have an even smaller selection.
Recently I went to a Wal-Mart, a Best Buy and 2 Barnes and Nobles and could not find one Joan Jett CD. No greatest hits, nothing. But I did find some CDs online at all of these stores' websites. It appears this will be the way to truly buy CDs in the future for me.
Not everyone is computer savvy, not everyone owns an Ipod, not everybody wants to carry around an Ipod for their music either. How many people lose their keys? Now they are expected to keep up with an Ipod? Sheesh... Collecting music is more than just downloading tracks into a matchbox. Buying music was an experience and Ipods do not cover that at all. The future of music with Ipods is cheap and the music will be too - sooner or later. I for one am not looking forward to the future in music if this trend continues. We'll deserve what we get.
Currently I think it is all down to price and selection. If both of these criterias are not met then it looks like CDs will be gone everywhere.

We used to have a Virgin Megastore and Tower here in New Orleans. You could have shot a cannon through both of them at any given time. After the hurricane, Virgin decided not come back. Tower did come back and seemed to be doing OK, judging only from the number of people I saw in the store and being the only game in town.

I always thought Tower priced everything too high, but back in the day you couldn't beat their selection.

One pleasant memory of Tower was their Pulse magazine that they gave out free. It was filled with hundreds of disc reviews, and not the Hot 40 but lots of alternative, World, jazz, blues, etc. music. Way back in the pre-internet days this was an excellent source of info about non-mainstream music. Got to give them credit for that innovation-it was a music-lover's best friend.

While on the subject of record stores.... if any of you are in Pittsburgh, Pa., please check-out Jerry's Records in the Squirrel Hill section of the city. Jerry has been around forever. He sells only vinyl (well a few CDs), and only used stuff. His inventory must be 500,000 - 1,000,000 records, truly unbelievable. He's in a large warehouse. He also sells turntables and cartridges/needles. I was in there last week, and it appears he's having some money problems. Everything in the store was 33 1/3 (get it?) off, and he had a sign saying "We're not closing". Jerry cleans every record he receives and his prices are right.

I spent $52 and got:

Graham Parker - Stick to Me
Dinah Washington - The Very Best Of
The Best of Al Hirt and Pete Fountain
The Band - Moondog Matinee
Rod Stewart - Smiler
Alice Cooper - Greatest Hits
The Very Best of Nancy Wilson
Buffalo Springfield - Retrospective
Jimmy Smith - The Cat
Hank Thompson - Live in Las Vegas
Louis Prima - (forget the name)
Tracy Nelson - Poorman's Paradise
John Mayall - Live in Europe (includes Vibrato!)
Bob Dylan - Infidels
John Hiatt - Bring the Family
This is Vera Lynn

Not bad huh? Sorry, hope I'm not hijacking the thread.