The Demise of a Great

Especially after the collapse of Valley Media, those of us in the record industry started getting mighty nervous about the future of Tower Records. For those of us who were involved in non-Top 40 type music (insofar as Top 40 even exists anymore), Tower was extremely important. When our distributor put Tower on hold until they brought down their balance, our sales hurt tremendously. Want to put out a collection of historic Banda Sinaloense music? Tower was good for at least a few hundred of them. Tower was the store that had everything.

The troubles of Tower were something that I followed keenly. I grew up within walking distance of 16th and Broadway, where the Tower still stands, illuminated in neon, an art deco becon of record industry history. The cafe that occupies the spot where Russ Solomon started selling used 78's from jukeboxes at his family's drugstore, has kept the original neon sign. That Tower, which is really part of the Tower Theater, was the place that I visited more than any other spot in town. From about 1986 to 1990, I saw every film that they screened in that theater. After the film, I would walk accross the street to the record store.

Tower Records was annoying. They were always blasting horrid music. The clerks tended to be surly and, unless you found the specific buyer in the genre you were looking for, completely useless as far as giving advice goes. However, the buyers in each section were good at what they did, and I always knew that I could find something that I did not have and was interested in. Tower was the only place in town that had any selection of classical, jazz, and world music.

I spent many a happy hour at Tower, in spite of everything, browsing through the bins, revising my lists, etc. If the atmosphere was too horrid, I would walk across the parking lot to Tower Books, which was also the only game in town in the pre-Barnes and Nobles/Borders days.

So, for me, Tower is not a chain, but the local record store. My family's printing business printed their calendars and some of their publications. For a teenager who was completely fed up with Sacramento's cultural offerings, Tower was a window to another world. We might have had a B Symphony, but as long as Tower was strong, the greater world of classical music had a little tentacle into the town.

So, I have to admit that I am sad, but completely unsurprised, to learn of Tower's filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. I am actually surprised that they held on for so long, given how bad things had become.

The problem with the demise of Tower is that for many folks in the retail side of the record industry, this will be seen as proof that a deep catalog store is no longer viable. I strongly disagree. Tower was mismanaged, but the concept was not the problem.

For me, this will not be that bad a problem. In the Bay Area, we have plenty of good record stores, for instance Down Home Music, The Musical Offering, Berigan's, dba Brown, Amoeba, etc. When Tower is sold, which is the inevitable outcome of the Chapter 11 reorganization here, it will probably emerge as a shadow of its former self. If it follows the Warehouse model (a sure loser that has proven to be a bad idea), the new owners will probably be filing for Bankruptcy fairly soon as well. That will leave Borders as the only nationwide retailer with any selection at all (and that has been steadily declining since their emergence on the scene). Without the competition from Tower, I do not foresee their improving.

Certainly music fanatics will be able to purchase anything from Amazon or by downloading, but there will be a loss to the music world with the demise of good record stores. They serve a function beyond just retail, and that function will have to be taken up by some other venue. It remains to be seen what that venue will be, but I predict a fairly dry spell for a few years.

All of this will translate to a weak record industry. Without the industry, we will need something else to filter the scads of recordings that artists will directly shovel into the market, often without the benefit of a good producer. Will blogs do this? Possibly. Someone will have to, as the technology makes it easier and easier to get one's music out there, so consumers will need to turn to someone to help decide what to spend time on.

How will musicians make money? I don't know, but they will (or society is really doomed). Selling records has never been a huge income generator for most musicians. For those who make a decent profit from it (not counting the pop superstars), they generally sell directly to the consumer at gigs. Downloading? It remains to be seen. I am skeptical, but I am watching the ipod.

Anyway, the best case scenario is that Tower gets it together, that Russ Solomon wakes up and leads the whole thing back to glory. I am not optimistic, however, and do not relish seeing such a grand institution fade into obscurity.