For those of us who grew up honing our music knowledge browsing the rows upon rows of neatly alphabetized albums, it's a time that won't be recaptured.
After its sale yesterday to Great American Group, Tower Records is closing the doors of all of its nearly ninety stores worldwide, effectively ending the reign of record stores as we once knew them. Great American plans to liquidate the chain beginning today with closeout sales across the board. Over 3000 Tower employees will be impacted by the closings.…
Article comments
26 - JD
All I gotta say is come to Amoeba records in LA. Incredible, full-spectrum selection in a space the size of four or five Towers. Used CDs of recent, good stuff for $5-$8. A staff that is lightyears ahead in terms of new music. Truly a record lover's utopia...I would be surprised if it ever goes under. But if it does, THAT would mark the end of what everyone thinks the demise of Tower is signifying. I know everyone can't live near Amoeba but it is worth a trip from anywhere if you're reading this page.
Love Garden in Lawrence, Kansas is also awesome.
27 - sugarfre
I am very sadden by this news. I worked for Tower Records in Sacramento in the early 80's. It was the coolest job ever. This is truly the end of an era.
28 - JR
JD: All I gotta say is come to Amoeba records in LA. Incredible, full-spectrum selection in a space the size of four or five Towers. Used CDs of recent, good stuff for $5-$8. A staff that is lightyears ahead in terms of new music. Truly a record lover's utopia...
That shithole on Sunset? It's the size of two Towers at best, their jazz selection isn't that good, it's a dump and they don't beat Tower's sale prices. I regularly bought new CDs for $7.99; I even got a couple of Steely Dan remasters for $5.99 (new, not used).
Looks like I'm left with J&R Music, even if they don't have free shipping.
29 - Bobbyshoes
From a boomer born in 1957:
The reality is not enough bands today have the songs, the voices and the chops to warrant me making any further investment in them. Being a music lover, based on reading reviews and being at a work location in close proximity to a Tower store, I have bought thousands of dollars of CDs over the past five years. And I now regret it. Most, if not all, are forgettable. I rarely, if ever, listen to anything I bought over that 5-year time period. If anything, I've invested in reissues of the 60s, 70s and 80s stuff I grew up with.
Maybe, it's a chicken or the egg thing. Are bands putting out mostly trash because we're buying songs one at-a-time, or vice versa? What I do know is that from now on, I'll do what my kids are doing. Get my iPod, go onto iTunes and see if I can find anything worth paying $0.99 a track for. However, in my opinion, there really isn't that much new out there worth spending a buck on.
30 - Mark Saleski
if you can't find interesting new music out there, then you've just stopped being interested in new music.
there was no "golden era". sorry. at least i don't think so.
as far as stores go, i'm lucky enough to have a little mom & pop store just a few miles from me. it caters to my fringe tastes.
31 - Ray Ellis
Wow.. . I stay away for a day and the topic just keeps going.
Like Anna, I do most of my shopping online these days--not just for music or books, but for anything that saves me from going to that darkest of all the circles of Hell..the mall.I never left my apartment last holiday season, and I still ended up with a bill of over $700 in gifts, none of which were shoddy.
My point is, the Internet changed everything--it was the next logical step in the evolution of consumerism. As much as we like to mourn the passing of Tower, I can't help but think that in some ways, it's fitting. The megastores all but killed off the mom and pop stores, and they were, in turn, killed off by the big box stores, which, in turn will die, when somebody outmarkets them, be that the Internet or some unknown nerd contemplating that as part of his plan for global domination.
And I have to agree with Brian in his assessment of distribution. While I do like the sense of physicality that a CD offers, I also know that the world ain't getting any smaller. I had over 3500 vinyl albums, nearly 6000 comic books, and god knows how many novels, reference books and the like at one time, not to mention my audio/video system, with massive Cerwyn Vega speakers, et cetera.Now I have all of it (or the parts that matter)at my fingertips via my computer and a few components.
Bobbyshoes also touches on this subject. And Mark is absolutely correct when he says that if you don't think good music isn't out there, you're not looking hard enough.
What I'm getting from all these comments is music is in no way dead. And so long as you guys are around, it can look forward to a long and prosperous existence.
I thank you all.
32 - Travis Zirkle
I was a manager and buyer at Tower Records on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood. The news that Tower was to cease existance was a huge blow. It is the death of a legend in music retail. It is a shame that the new owners think they can make more money by "salvaging" the assets verses fixing some of the problems. Even if Transworld had bought it, at least it would have continued to exist and may have retained some of its own character though many of its brands became more Top 40 types of stores, such as what happened to Wherehouse (I managed there too) before and after its aquisition. I agree with Ray and Glen on much of what they said and think that it is really sad that the art of music has become dictated by the bottom line verses a line of talent.
My job at Tower Records Sunset remains my favorite job to date. After I left there three years ago to move back home to Kansas, I still made a point to stop in to shop and visit when in LA. It is definitely the end of an era. To any current and former Tower people out there, best wishes.
33 - -E
Congrats! This article has been selected as one of this week’s Editors’ Picks.
34 - CJ
I have a great fondness for the Tower in Campbell, California. I've been going there for 25 years. Way back when the building was split up into 3 sections, Tower Records/Tower Tapes/Tower Posters (which was basically a head shop) they always had a great selection of artists that were hard to find, and I really loved the import section. Plently of knowledgable and friendly empoyees. As a kid they used to let me have some of the promo posters of my favorite bands. A big deal when your 13! Like so many people pointed out, the internet and the industry of today really affected the store. Sad news, indeed........
35 - Steve Mahoney
I remember growing up in tiny Tigard, Oregon hopping on a bus as a youngster and going to the Tower in Beaverton on my days off and buying dolby cassettes for my clunky walkman. It was a nice couple of years before working and going to school in Portland, Oregon, where they had Djangos, Second Avenue, the Ooze, Park Avenue, and Music Millenium. And then shortly after that I purchased my first cd player sold my entire collection to Djangos with the idea that I would replace all the cassettes with cds. It took a long time, but with the concept of purchasing used cds from these independants and their more eclectic collection of materials and staff, I would never really go back to that Tower in Beaverton or in Gateway again. Maybe the music business changed but what changed even more was my growing interest in music, and the librarys cd collection grew just as swiftly. I feel there is so much great stuff that was made in the past its going to take me forever to exhaust the supply of older stuff, I may not get a chance to get to what is currently being made unless its by a select few artists that I still follow. I still go into Music Millenium, Park Avenue records and his awesome gallery of one of a kind psychadelic poster art is gone, but i think Jackpot records a newer store with that old-school record store feel is in the same space, the Ooze became ozone became defunkt along with Djangos, and second avenue I havent been into in forever so i do not know if it exists anymore. Thanks for the memories, Tower!
36 - todd
I live in Louisville, Kentucky, and we're lucky enough to have Ear X-tacy, the best record store in the region; but when I lived in Henderson, Neveada, I was very pleased when they opened a Tower Records. It was a decent store with a large selection.
37 - Rob K
Ive been reading the above comments and want to add some mo. In fact some NOT touched upon. First off all, Music IN GENERAL, is not a HIGH PRIORITY as it once was in the 70's.
TOO MANY GOODIES OUT THERE as DISTRACTIONS - CELL PHONES COMPUTERS SUV's GOING OUT TO EAT IN OVERPRICE CHAIN RESTAURANTS. Essentially buying crap that is non-essential. Sorry!
Someone mention the price of cd's is outrageously high. GEE does the one who GOES gambling in the plethea of CASINOS across the country SEE IT THAT WAY, when they FUNKIN blow that amount in about 30 seconds or less (slot machines etc)
Or when they go to an OVERPRICED RED LOBSTER, GO WELL OVER that $ 17.00 price tag, ordering appetizers drinks the main meal and desert. No qualms there. (YA eat it digest it and shit it out the next day!!!)
I dont KNOW of any person who has gone in one of these places (quite sure there a few but most are hopeless to resist) and say NAH TOO EXPENSIVE wont go in!!!
Now someone mention about the slew of garbage being released. Dont know WHAT one's criterion is for "appreciating" an artist or how something is considered junk. Good Music is out there. Just gotta LOOK FOR IT.
Look how gas HAS risen over the last two years. I say the rise is a HECK of a lot higher than how music has risen in price over the last 30 years!!! (That $17.00 CD will last a LOT LONGER than that Tank full of petrol)
Will end here HAVE A LOT mo to say....but waiting for any replies.
To Todd from above...EAR X TACY is good. Purchased vinyl from them in recent times when up there from Nashville such as XTC and PAUL WELLER. Though the "help" there has something to be desired. Life is a "LITTLE" beyond the latest "alternative" sounds of the second and when someone mentions LEE MORGAN DEE DEE BRIDGEWATER CARL KING JAE SINNETT WISHBONE ASH VAN DER GRAF GENERATOR even the DELLS OR THE OJAYS etc...get vague looks like what's that?
38 - G. Bennett
I remember growing up in Southern California and making trips to Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles just to visit Bleaker Bob's and Vinyl Fetish. Those were the days of browsing music, scoring a cool ep from Europe, etc. And, I actually left the store(s) with vinyl, a cassette, even a cd (late 80's) in a bag. I kind of miss that, but not too much.
I'm not going to say that the current cultural shift in music is "bad" nor am I going to be crowing purist a la Jack Black in "High Fidelity." What I will say is that the industry was destined to be overrun by technology (iPods, iTunes, hard drives) in its most basic form. Still, the record companies are kicking and screaming their way into finding solutions that will still make them money. Tower's closing may be a sign of relent, but I doubt music sales will look different numerically; just what is being sold will be altered.
I have a box in my garage that is filled with compact discs that are destined for a trip to Amoeba in San Francisco before they close their doors. I will tell you, though, that If I were to look in the box(es) there will not be one cassette tape in there as that shift happened fully form me about 15 years ago.
I much rather prefer my music catalogued and accessible from anywhere in my house, my car, and in my gym if I wanted. My "blank" cd's are even collecting dust because I don't have a mechanical music player anymore to play a burned cd on.
I'm content with this new music shift and , like my cassette to cd change-over, I barely noticed.
39 - Ray Ellis
Music has always, in one way or another, been the driving force in my life. Noting that this thread is still going shows that I'm not alone.
Contrary to what Rob K implies, you've all proven that music is the driving force it's always been. The delivery of the message may change, but the message remains the same.
40 - JR
Ray Ellis: Contrary to what Rob K implies, you've all proven that music is the driving force it's always been.
Only the people who still care about music would respond here. This thread probably isn't representative of society as a whole.
41 - Ray Ellis
You may be right, JR. But if societ as a whole doesn't care about music, or the arts in general, then we have indeed become a soulles society.
42 - Willet Weeks
The evening before the liquidation ads appeared in the Times (and they weren't even very big ones), I had stopped off at the Lincoln Center Tower Records, on my way home from a concert, as I have done so often over the years. The vast classical & opera rooms have always been a peaceful (too peaceful, obviously) haven on the West Side, and it's where I -- like others above -- have so often happened upon terrific releases, old and new, stuff (some dross, but plenty of pure gold) that I would never found any other way.
The loss will be particularly felt among classical, jazz and world-music fans. The gaps on the shelves were growing wider, the chances of finding a any specific recording in stock for instant-gratification take-home had been going down, and you knew that real estate realities made those sections the retail equivalent of a rent-controlled $500 two-bedroom. But for the idle browse, the sudden thrill of a find, the aimless wander that ended at the register with a stack of 20 CDs and the leaving behind of another dozen you wished you'd picked up as well -- there will never be anything like it. For proof, all you need is to try searching anything on Amazon or its likes: it works half the time, at best, and then only after endless rejiggling of the query. How would you ever have come across that great live Oistrakh-Richter recital? How do you count the numbers of listeners who'll never stumble onto Clara Nunes or Papa Wemba, bought them on a hunch, and wound up as rabid fans? You won't -- you'll never know they existed. Nor will you ever again get to share your browsing time with musicians straight off the jacket covers, or generations of students from Juilliard, or get into a heated argument over which version of "Nozze di Figaro" should be recommended to a first-time listener.
The equivalent sections at Virgin or J&R (or their far less discriminating or useful equivalents at B&N or Borders) will doubtless soon follow. A vital link between performers and listeners, between past and present, has been snapped, and there is nothing out there in the virtual world remotely likely to replace it.
43 - Mark Saleski
well said WW. seriously.
44 - Triniman
I agree with Mark's comments in post # 30. There's tons of great music out there, but the problem is you have to really look hard to separate the stuff that appeals to you from the chaff. I still experience that wonderful sense of discovery due to all the reading and listening that I do online. But there's a lot of popular music out there that you have to wade through to get to the stuff you would like.
In previous decades, record companies were intent on developing bands. When new albums came out by popular artists, people would snap it up without hesitation. Today, many fans are loyal not to artists but more so to hit songs. Consequently, many artists on big labels don't get a chance to grow. They either sell or fade away. Thankfully, the smaller labels can develop bands and loyal fans over time, without the presure to recoup stupidly expensive recording and promotion costs. I can't recall the last time I saw a music video for an indie band that I listen to. Music videos mean very little to me and I hope they become more irrelevent to the masses as other sources for promoting bands grow in popularity.
I prefer small independent stores that cater to those with eclectic tastes, and when I'm near one, I'm buying 5 or 6 cds at once. I live closer to an HMV (the largest chain in Canada, I think) and while much more mainstream, they do have a wide enough selection to satisfy people like me. Without a doubt though, almost all of my purchases are due to my discovering the artist through the Internet and through indie music magazines.
Forgive me for mentioning some points that have been raised elsewhere in this thread. Great article, by the way.
45 - Stephen V Funk
WW -- you hit it right on the money. As I've been scavenging Tower's "liquidation" sale over the past week, I'm amazed how much stuff I'm stumbling upon that I would have never thought to search for on Amazon or elsewhere online (and that I'm sure Amazon wouldn't have recommended to me based on my "purchasing history.") And besides, shopping online is just no damn fun.
46 - Thomas Hutchings
Amazon.com should have bought this chain and made it a destination store.
Their business model would have kept Tower flourishing and consumers would have had a brick and mortar representation of Amazon's video, book and music market.
i.e. You go to the Amazon/Tower store check out a song/album/video/book and either buy it new on the spot or order it on the spot used for less and shipped to your home from wherever in the US. Which would have been a big KA-CHING for Amazon.
Savvy internet shoppers were already doing this at Tower anyway, so it would have been win/win for Amazon to own the brick/mortar store and the cheaper alternative.
Regardless of price, consumers will always be willing to pay more for convenience, which is THE newest market when it comes to any form of digital media. Tower Records could have really made a mint from being an in-store mini concert artist/merch venue because MP3's, although convenient lack any of the tangible packaging of even the lowest costing CD/DVD.
Of course everyone at Tower hopefully could've kept their jobs and Tower's excellent underpaid team of sullen (yet helpful) employees could still be providing customers with face to face service.
I think the way to go for the digital media industry is encrypted USB static drives that include music videos, lyrics, movies, pictures, video games, text and anything else that can market the artist. I would have no problem releasing my own music media on a short run of USB drives and it's probably what I'll try to do.
47 - Pete
Years ago I worked at 2 of the Towers, one being the monster 4 floor flagship store at 4th & Broadway in Manhattan as a buyer. It's a shame to see this company die. Music will be here forever and so should this company have been. To thoughs who mis-managed and let it die . . . . . you SUCK!
48 - JR
Stephen V Funk: As I've been scavenging Tower's "liquidation" sale over the past week...
Whoa, last I checked the liquidation sale was only at 20% off. Tower used to have fairly regular storewide 25% discounts. I'm sure as hell not going to pay the liquidators more than I would have paid Tower; I'm recommending everybody hold out until it's at least 30%.
49 - AKS
I read of the demise of Tower records in the local Newspaper about 5 weeks ago. Upon reading the news I made a trip to one of the local Tower stores, one I've patronized for over 25 years to buy an armload of CDs before the store was sold out, but exited the store with one EP in hand.
I left with only 1 disk not due to a lack of good titles to buy, it was due to Tower's way over infated prices. I then realized why tho, I am a big music fan and avid CD buyer, I seldom shopped at Tower any more. It wasn't a lack of selection, it wan't the aloof staff, it was more than anything, the HIGH prices.
I buy most of my CDs at second hand stores and from online retailers these days. even with postage added, CDs are much cheaper that way. I bought many vinyl LPs at Tower back in the day. Back then tower had both great selection and great prices, especially with their frequent sales.
I pesonally refuse to buy downloaded music, I like haveing something tangible in my hands for my money. I also enjoy the album artwork, and liner notes, lyrics etc and let's not forget sound quality, MP3s jsut don't cut it in that respect.
I too spent many hours just browsing at Tower and often bought albums by unknown artists on a whim, sometimes to be disapointed upon a listen, sometimes to be very pleasently suprised, but that was the fun of it. I will miss Tower, I will continue to buy CDs, but it will never be the same.
R.I.P. Tower
50 - Travis Zirkle
Granted, prices on music has risen drastically in the last decade. However, Tower Records was not price gouging. As a former Supervisor and Buyer for Tower Records Sunset, I know what the store itself was charged for cds and what the markup was. The pricing for business requires the business to pay for the product, the cost of operation (utilities, phone salary, etc), and marketing. Best Buy, Wal-Mart, Barnes & Noble, etc use music as a sideline. They have other products that are their main money makers. When the movie Titanic came out on VHS, Best Buy sold it for less than what they paid for it. Those kinds of practices hurt the stand alone music stores.
Granted that isn't all that hurt Tower, Wherehouse, Sam Goody, and Virgin. There are always bad choices made by company management from time to time. However, I think most of the damage has been done by a society that is more interested in cheap prices verses a quality product. We want more for less and constantly make that demand on our domestic companies which results them trying to bend far past the breaking point.
Tower Records was good to its employees. Yes, Russ Solomon's influence waned over the years but Tower still offered its employees benefits and assistance that many companies would never thought to have offered. Sometimes store level management or district level management hurt morale but if you looked at Tower's central policy and practice, it was very employee friendly.
There is a yahoogroup for the Tower family to keep in touch.
51 - Lamorak
While I'm a little sad to see Tower go, I'll probably not miss them as much as I would have before the emergence of online music stores. I used to avidly shop for music at various Tower Records stores. They were really the only place to find anything and everything music related at reasonable prices. Then the prices started to climb and I stopped buying as much. Anyone remember when CD's were literally $21 a pop? I pretty much stopped buying them at the store and found that shopping online was much more economical for me. I would still occasionally drop by Tower to get something that I just couldn't wait to purchase. But then I would look at the prices and remember why I stopped going.
Online retailers were the ticket for me. I could find just about everything I could think of trying and the prices were $3 to $4 dollars less than going to the brick and mortar stores. Wishlists were a Godsend for when I had to watch the budget and wanted to remember to pick up something later. Then the recommendations for new music and the ability to sample clips were pretty much the closer deal for me. It was easier, quicker, and less expensive to do all my music shopping online.
I'll miss Tower Records and the pure atmosphere of the music store itself; but not as much as I would have before the Internet.
52 - MT
I just found out about Tower's liquidation last week and I wasn't surprised, because of the massive changes in the industry and in culture in the past decade or so. But I am somewhat sad and certainly regretful.
To those who suggest Tower might have been malicious or deserved their "fate", I would disagree.
Tower was a music store for music lovers. Those who truly love music understand why this is a terrible thing. "No Music, No Life." So correct--and now, what do we do?
I live two states away from any Tower Records but I visited them anytime I was near one, and I got the same feeling as posters above:
Great, thorough selection
Knowledgeable sales staff
Dedicated to music
The first and last were certainly part of the issue, because the wholesale price for music is very close to the retail price, and Tower couldn't make money on music alone. To do so they would have had to raise the prices, which they did on *some* releases but not all. The prices often were actually as good as or better than Amazon, IF Amazon had it at all.
Someday I hope to see a concise and precise explanation for Tower's demise (and pop/etc. music and the business as well) but I would suggest the following...
The cultural shift that the internet has produced is part of the trouble with the music industry.
There are so many subgenres and smaller divisions of music that fans can get into these days and find out about on the internet, there's no way Tower (or anyone) could keep up.
I was at a Tower just last week and I'd say they were doing a good job. I bought a CD by a 80's german heavy metal band, harpsichord music from the 1600-1700s, old school hip hop, among other things. I was looking for these things and found them. Available on Amazon? Sure, but it's not the same. Also, before the discount, the sticker price on two CDs were $12.99, and $8.99--comparable for those releases, or a dollar over Amazon.
I would never have found this stuff at an independent music store, even, on a random stop. But who else would have bought what I bought, and made Tower more than $5 on a single visit by buying at least 2 CDs? And how many people? I'm guessing not enough.
The classical section in the many stores I've visited is amazing, and suggests just how dedicated to their mission they were--I would imagine they tried to keep it going even though it was probably an absolute loss, especially given how much space it often got.
Sure: somehow, maybe, some individuals at Tower may have contributed to its demise, but I doubt there was a 3000 person, chain-wide conspiracy to raise prices, which were bad on some and great on others.
It's quite regrettable, for those who will be out of jobs most actually probably liked, as well as those fans who still shop for music in the real world.
I think that the internet provides the possibility to both expand one's world, and to get even more narrow minded about things, and you can see this in music, too.
The fact that I'm writing this on a web page I've never otherwise visited is testament.
I wonder what this might do for the future--will it be good?
CDs at the mall (yes, I even look there just for kicks, occasionally) are now near $20. Same as at Virgin. And somehow those stores still operate.
There are a number of factors, but I think the fractioning of society is part of it. There will be no Dark Side of the Moon, or anything like it, again, because it's way too specific anymore.
As above, great music is out there and actually, you only need to be one step away from a major label to find it. But you need to look.
You can't beat the physical world for the experience. Meanwhile, the virtual world is moving capitalism. It's sad.
53 - Q
What about the hight prices Tower Records were charging for CD?
54 - dave
In reading these submissions, I couldn't help but think of my Saturday mornings spent at Tower Records after payday. I spent a lot of money those days in Tower. I'm old enough to remember the days of the LP's. I remember the average price for an LP, in the early 80's, was about $10. I can remember Tower being hesitant to go full on into CDs when they first came out. I remember CDs first came out in those long waste of cardboard packages. Tower didn't have the racks that could accommodate CDs, so they just put them next to the LPs. Tower's costs for the CDs were so outrages, that I didn't get into CDs right off the bat. I finally took in the CD format but, Tower really never lowered their prices. You would have an occasional ACDC Cd for about $10 but, on the average, Tower's prices were too pricey for me. This was about 1989. I remember thinking that it would not be a big surprise if Tower Records went out of business. I remember abandoning Tower for the used cd stores. I would still go there to browse but, I knew I could find what I was looking for somewhere else. Today, I've adapted to the ways of the internet, and it doesn't bother me. I think Tower Records, for me, was a good place to browse. I don't buy much music anymore, I have everything I would want. Tower Records gave me a good place to pass the time and it gave me ideas of what I would want to buy. I'm fine with their demise but, RIP anyways.
55 - Ryan
Very sad to see tower gone. I have always been a music fan and never got to visit the Flagship store on Sunset. Somehow though, I just found out that a few years ago, my Dad got his hands on the audio system from the original store on the Sunset Strip - complete with the huge Altec speakers. I don't know why he had never told me before, but now he is looking to sell the system to a collector. I hope I can get my hands on it to keep a piece of the history. Does anyone know how it may be worth? Just in case I have to compete with a collector to buy it from my Dad?