Looks like Tower Records has finally hit the skids

[FunkyHiFi]

"Tower Records Will Auction Its Assets" (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/22/business/22tower.html?ex=1313899200&en=5d4c0735b7543b25&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss)

I realize that to many people under @25 years old, buying a CD from a store you walk into is a rare experience, but to old farts like me seeing another music store disappear is a depressing thing to see. Excerpt from the above link:
By DOW JONES/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: August 22, 2006

“The brick-and-mortar specialty music retail industry has suffered substantial deterioration recently,” Tower said in court papers. The company made its Chapter 11 filing in United States Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del.

Industry observers say the chain could have a tough time finding a buyer willing to keep its brick-and-mortar stores operating in an industry increasingly dominated by online music sellers and big-box retailers.

Phil Leigh, a senior analyst for Inside Digital Media Inc., said that the Tower brand had value and would find a buyer, but that its stores were not likely to survive this latest bankruptcy. The company emerged from another bankruptcy in 2004. “I think they’ll sell off the name and liquidate the inventory,” Mr. Leigh said.

(bolded part is mine) it really pisses me off that stores like Circuit City and especially Best Buy have contributed to this mess - I've heard many times over the years that BB sells lots of it best-selling albums at cost or *under* their cost, IMO mostly just to get you in the store to look at washing machines or a TV. :mad:

Earlier this year an independent chain right here in Houston, Cactus Records, closed its doors. :( So I'm not sure how long Soundwaves (http://soundwaves.com/surf.asp?pageID=surf), the store I buy most of my CDs from, is going to last (they also sell surfing gear at that particular location).

This is going to sound cranky and sort of whiny, but me and lots of other people really think others are missing out on part of the music experience when the music they own exists only as a file on a computer or handheld gizmo. While music itself isn't anything you can actually hold in your hand, having a recording of it that you *can* hold onto & keep somewhere safe until you want to experience it again can feel so much better. I think that this nebulous "virtual" method of storing music on limited-lifetime hard drives and memory chips has contributed to the devaluation of music to many people (not ALL, just a lot, because obviously the people here place heavy value on this art form).

[DroppinScience]

That does suck. Tower Records is a pretty good store that I check out whenever I go to the States.

I know I'm under 25, but I go to music stores religiously FunkyHiFi. :)

[BBboy20]

Redding never had a Towers so meh. =/

Atleast it'll always exist in Crazy Tax. :P

[ggirlballa]

whoa! theres a tower records store up in hollywood....wow:eek:

[Planetary]

we have tower records in the uk. that's a shame. though it was pretty crappy.

[Poster Boy]

the one here in Austin shut down in June of 2004. Maybe if they didn't charge fucking $18.99 for new releases they could've stayed afloat.

it's Best Buy all the way. the day shit comes out- massive sales.

werd.

[yeahwho]

the one here in Austin shut down in June of 2004. Maybe if they didn't charge fucking $18.99 for new releases they could've stayed afloat.

it's Best Buy all the way. the day shit comes out- massive sales.

werd.

Yeah I feel about the same, as much as Tower tried to keep some obscure and good local music in stock here in Seattle, the store was overpriced and full of un-deserved arrogance. I've been avoiding them, I guess a whole lot of other folks have too.

happens

[FunkyHiFi]

Maybe if they didn't charge fucking $18.99 for new releases they could've stayed afloat.
According to lots of other people that have Towers in their city (we don't have them here), that is the main reason they're going under. Looks like Tower is.....er, was.......using their formerly glorious past to justify those effed up prices.

BTW: didn't mean to sound snobbish in my post above about owning music - I just grew up in a different era & things are changing really fast nowadays.

But I *am* enjoying the advantages of 1.3mb floppy discs and my new hi-speed 56K dial-up connection - amazing stuff!!!

j/k :)

edit: speaking of changing times, just found this on another forum: "RadioShack uses e-mail to fire employees". (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060830/ap_on_hi_te/radioshack_layoffs) Damn that's cold. :mad:

A moment in audio history, 1984 to be exact: the first digital audio you could take with you, the Sony D-5 (http://history.acusd.edu/gen/recording/images2/PDRM1970a.jpg) (but make sure to bring along several packs of AA batteries for long trips). If you were seen with one of these, you were kewl!

[yeahwho]

Shit I gave Tower a few thousand $$$'s stood in line for tickets to shows, the whole nine yards, one day I bought a computer and CD's cost $11.99 max. Fan sites and music information was at my fingertips. New info on artists the Majors were ignoring.

If Tower could of downsized to one stop store with a website it would rule, I just think the corporate record retailer should of known in 1990 how clearly the technology was changing and adapted right away.

Tower was always goofy anyway. There are a lot of great local record shops in town, Seattle well be alright.

[abcdefz]

*former Tower employee*


Tower definitely went downhill. At one point, it was actually the cheap place in town to buy stuff. A few years after I split, it was charging full retail price on shit that wasn't on sale, which is fucking nuts. Places like Borders do that because they cater to yuppies who don't want to sully themselves by going into an actual music store, but music stores should never use that strategy. :(

[chrisd]

looks like towels with wet turds finally shit with skids

[ET]

Even their online store sucked balls. I ordered an item that was in stock only to get a NOT IN STOCK LOL email a week later. I tried to get a refund but to no avail as they still wanted my money. This was a few years back, but still... HAHA DIE!!!! AHAHAHA!!!

[abcdefz]

The fact of the matter is: maybe if they didn't allow employees to cart of $$$$ worth of merchandise via back doors and backpacks, maybe they would still be afloat.

I have no idea how much of that got written off, though.

[Rock]

Any place that charges cd prices for vinyl deserves to go down. I hate that fucking place. I haven't bought anything from there (besided the new beasties) in over 5 years.

Although there was a time in my life that I would easily spend $100 a week there. That was until they made vinyl the same price as cds. Fuckers. I'm actually kind of happy about this.

[abcdefz]

I was there during a nice period when they started dumping all the import vinyl. I was getting 4AD stuff and Bauhaus 2-LP sets for $1.99-$2.99 a pop.

I didn't like a whole lot of it, but it was a cheap way to find out. (y)

[DroppinScience]

*former Tower employee*


Tower definitely went downhill. At one point, it was actually the cheap place in town to buy stuff. A few years after I split, it was charging full retail price on shit that wasn't on sale, which is fucking nuts. Places like Borders do that because they cater to yuppies who don't want to sully themselves by going into an actual music store, but music stores should never use that strategy. :(

Wait, why would charging full retail price attract yuppies? Or anyone? :confused:

[abcdefz]

Wait, why would charging full retail price attract yuppies? Or anyone? :confused:


It's partly just "taking advantage." Get the customers in the store for one thing (whether a sale item or just because it's "the place to one-stop-shop") and then make up for your loss leaders by selling all catolog stuff at full retail price.

I've been with friends who have entirely too much money, and I'm saying, "You could get those CDs [or whatever] for about four bucks cheaper each if you just go to [wherever, within a couple miles]." The response is usually sort of a sighed, "Ohhh.... that's okay.... we're here, now."

There's something about the sensation of consuming goods that gets a lot of us. Gets me, too, but the bargain, to me, is even better. And I think that, for people with real disposable income, looking for a bargain on cheaper goods (as opposed to, say, a car) is seen as pathetic or something.

[FunkyHiFi]

"It is all over: Tower sold to Great American liquidators..." (http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showthread.php?t=93309)

FYI: I'm linking to that forum because there's a lot of people there who usually have good stories about the "good ol' days" of the music business when it wasn't so cynical & money-oriented, and because quite a few music industry insiders regularly post there.

[nypb]

Good riddance. I used to live around the corner from the w4th st. store and I went in there one Tuesday (a few years back) to buy a CD that was released that day. They didn't have it on the floor and said it must be "downstairs" and to come back later to check if it's available. I never set foot in there again.

I promptly walked over to Virgin Megastore and bought it on the spot.

F Tower! They got what they deserved.

[cosmo105]

eh. they weren't the greatest store, but it's still sad to see them go. when wherehouse declared bankruptcy (again) and closed the store where i was working a few years back, i was pretty bummed. but it had been coming for a long time, for similar reasons.

[Extra Cheese]

dude are you serious????

F that, good riddance.

[buddmonkey]

FUCK>>>> Now where am I gonna buy my PORN!!!!!!????

Nah for real though, Fuck that place.... Too expensive, too unhelpfull, and they never have anything I want.....

[FunkyHiFi]

Here's a news video about the disappearance of brick-n-mortar music stores:

http://video.msn.com/v/us/msnbc.htm?g=355CFE49-5740-4827-B230-4E1FD0A457DB&f=00&fg=copy

I can't watch it because it needs Windows Media Player version 10 and my computer doesn't support that :( but on the forum i found this on everyone was pretty bummed after watching it.

As those people mentioned, so many kids are growing up not knowing what it's like to truly shop for music - that sounds dumb but staring at a computer screen is NOTHING like walking among rows & rows of music at a real music store, much of it you've never seen before, along with other human beings that also love this form of art. And when I say "music store" I DON'T mean the cheesy music sections at Best Buy or similar places that only stock the latest crappy one-hit-wonder CDs, but places with knowlegeable employees, tons of back catalog stuff and import CDs, and many times entire sections of vinyl.

************************************************** *
And you know I have to throw in something about a certain semi-related issue :D

From Sound & Vision magazine "Is portable gear warping our view of good sound?"
(http://www.soundandvisionmag.com/realitybytes/1676/how-low-can-you-go.html) (I usually agree with most of what this author talks about, including in this article):

Walk down any city street and you'll see nearly everyone sprouting earbuds and singing along to music heard only by themselves. Call me old-fashioned, but that bugs me. Back in the day, people who heard voices and music in their heads were thought to be witches and were burned at the stake. Today, they're just "Podding."

We sure do love portable players. But many of us still like to actually listen to music over a good home system, too. Despite all the commotion over high-tech portables, home theaters and even lowly stereo systems offer terrific entertainment value and won't be going away anytime soon. Audio/video systems are indeed merging with computers, but you don't need USB ports, Wi-Fi, or a mouse to be entertained.

I can already hear the chorus of "Boo!"s coming from the balcony. Yeah, I know — all you young punks who've never lived in a world without dot-coms believe that iPods represent the pinnacle of A/V technology. And I'll freely admit that it's pretty cool to be able to carry around a few thousand of your favorite tunes. But these toys don't even come close to defining the apex of A/V technology — at least not the way I see it.

Personal music players have been popular since the Sony Walkman revolutionized on-the-go music 25 years ago, but the engine of consumer audio (and video) technology has always been the recreation of natural experiences. A recording of a live performance is good if it transports you back to the concert hall. Players with cheap earbuds can't do that — the sound just isn't good enough. The same goes for portable video players. Sure they're cool, but they'll never pull you into the action the way watching a movie in a good home or commercial theater can.

The problem is, portable gear is warping our view of what good sound and pictures really are. Instead of "high fidelity" as the goal, in the world of lo-fi MP3 files, lo-rez video, and wildly distorted ringtones, many of today's kids think it's all just fine.

Older guys will remember (or may even still practice) the rituals of high fidelity, where attention is paid to every minute detail. Gently cleaning LPs, painstakingly adjusting speaker positions inch by inch, tweaking preamp levels — all done in an effort to come as close as possible to sonic perfection.

So let's try not to forget that most gadgets, as cool as they may be, just aren't capable of providing topnotch entertainment. For a truly awesome experience that delivers the thrill of a live concert or a Hollywood blockbuster, the "old" formats — DVD and even CD — still rule. And physical media should get a boost when the new high-definition disc players — first HD DVD, then Blu-ray Disc — start appearing on store shelves. No matter what conventional wisdom says, the pursuit of high fidelity that originated with Thomas Edison has stood the test of time. At least so far.
And don't worry about what Bose says: you do not need to spend thousands of dollars to get great sound. Because if you buy from a company that doesn't spend millions on advertising i.e. basically all other audio manufacturers, for about $350 you can get a component stereo system with really good sound that no iPod docking thing can ever hope to match. FYI: iPods can be connected to any stereo system with a $4 adaptor cord from Radio Shack. And surround sound systems are nice but are not needed for good *sound* and even mono audio gear (http://www.tivoliaudio.com/product.php?productid=164&cat=262&page=1) can sound great (I own one of those).

[abcdefz]

Here's a news video about the disappearance of brick-n-mortar music stores:

http://video.msn.com/v/us/msnbc.htm?g=355CFE49-5740-4827-B230-4E1FD0A457DB&f=00&fg=copy

I can't watch it because it needs Windows Media Player version 10 and my computer doesn't support that :( but on the forum i found this on everyone was pretty bummed after watching it.

As those people mentioned, so many kids are growing up not knowing what it's like to truly shop for music - that sounds dumb but staring at a computer screen is NOTHING like walking among rows & rows of music at a real music store, much of it you've never seen before, along with other human beings that also love this form of art. And when I say "music store" I DON'T mean the cheesy music sections at Best Buy or similar places that only stock the latest crappy one-hit-wonder CDs, but places with knowlegeable employees, tons of back catalog stuff and import CDs, and many times entire sections of vinyl.



Yeah. I'm in music stores browsing and listening to stuff several times per week, and it's so nice to have a tangible experience like that. I love going in and hearing whatever cool or crappy music they're blasting, flipping through the stock, looking for stuff I've never seen, stuff I've forgotten about, or sweet deals just waiting to leap into my hands.

The Tower liquidation is kind of silly, though. Right now, CDs are 30% off, but 30% off list still isn't as cheap as Rasputin Music, which is a block and a half away. Amazing how packed the store is, though; kind of adds credence to the sheep-as-shoppers theory above; the experience of shopping doesn't seem to have "genuine bargain" as a factor. I don't get it.

[FunkyHiFi]

Right now, CDs are 30% off, but 30% off list still isn't as cheap as Rasputin Music, The liquidation company that is handling the Tower deal reportedly has a reputation for being really cheap & greedy.


kind of adds credence to the sheep-as-shoppers theory above; the experience of shopping doesn't seem to have "genuine bargain" as a factor.Is that what that video talks about? Because I have noticed more and more people are getting incredibly cheap when it comes to buying anything i.e. they always want a "deal", they'll put up with something with low quality only because it was a whole 2% less :rolleyes: than a better-built product, etc.

[DroppinScience]

Keep fighting the good fight, FunkyHiFi. I'm all about the tangible record store experience, too! (y)

[abcdefz]

Is that what that video talks about? Because I have noticed more and more people are getting incredibly cheap when it comes to buying anything i.e. they always want a "deal", they'll put up with something with low quality only because it was a whole 2% less :rolleyes: than a better-built product, etc.




I can't watch the video linked above, so I dunno. My sheep-as-shoppers theory (probably should be "shoppers-as-sheep" theory, actually) is along the lines of how some people shop for the experience of shopping rather than shopping for deals.

-- and when I mean "deals," no, I don't mean the fifty cent sweatshop socks vs. some that might last three months but will cost a few bucks more. I mean that you might poke your head in at Tower's liquidation sale to see what the current discounts are, but you know the math well enough to know that 30% off $18.99 still is no better deal than walking a block and a half down the street where you can get the same CD for $12.99 new or $7.99 used.

But, for some folks, that's too much work, or maybe they've been put off by the greasy-haired hipsters at Rasputin and shopping someplace which is sometimes loud and funky is a "cost" factor, too. They want a place where they can feel like consumers -- hence, Trader Joes, Whole Food Markets, etc. Why pay 99 cents for a bunch of spinach at your local store when you can feel superior shopping at Whole Foods and get the same spinach for $6.99 a pound?

Etc.

Me, I'm all about the deal. But it's gotta make sense. So my time gets factored in, etc. Will I waste an hour of time to save fifty cents? No.