Editing Tower Records (section)

==History==
[[File:Tower Theater Sacramento.jpg|thumb|The Tower Theatre in Sacramento, California, where Russ Solomon first sold records from his father's Tower Drugs – now the Tower Cafe]]

===Inception, expansion, and description===
In 1960, [[Russell Solomon]] opened the first Tower Records store on Broadway, in [[Sacramento, California]]. He named it after his father's drugstore, which shared a building and name with the [[Tower Theatre (Sacramento, California)|Tower Theatre]],<ref>{{cite web| title = Tower Theatre Homepage| url = http://www.thetowertheatre.com| access-date = 2006-08-26| url-status = dead| archive-url = https://archive.today/20120630020407/http://www.thetowertheatre.com/| archive-date = June 30, 2012| df = mdy-all}}</ref> where Solomon first started selling records. The first stand-alone Tower Records store was located at 2514 Watt Ave in the Arden Arcade area of Sacramento. By 1976, Solomon had opened Tower Books, Posters, and Plants at 1600 Broadway, next door to another Sacramento Tower Records location. In 1995, Tower.com opened, making the enterprise one of the first retailers to move online.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.rapnews.net/0-202-261614-00.html |work=Rap News Network |title=Tower Records Turns To Digital Downloads |date=June 28, 2006 |access-date=September 26, 2010 |archive-date=March 22, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220322051241/http://www.rapnews.net/0-202-261614-00.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

[[Image:Tower Records Sunset.jpg|thumb|Tower Records on the [[Sunset Strip]]]]

Seven years after its founding, Tower Records expanded to San Francisco, opening a store in what was originally a grocery store at Bay Street and [[Columbus Street|Columbus Avenue]]. In 1979, Tower Records in Japan started its business as the [[Japan]] Branch of MTS Incorporated. The following year, [[Sapporo]] Store, the first in Japan and internationally, opened. The chain eventually expanded internationally to include stores in the United Kingdom, Canada, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, Ireland, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador, and Argentina. The Tower Records stores in Japan split off from the main chain and are now independent.

Arguably the most famous Tower Records outlet was the purpose-built building that company staff general-contracted, with many personally contributing their labor, which opened in 1971 on the northwest corner of [[Sunset Boulevard]] and Horn Avenue in [[West Hollywood, California|West Hollywood]].<ref>{{cite news|author=Vincent, Roger |date=November 10, 2014|url=https://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-tower-records-gibson-20141111-story.html |title=Gibson to open store at former Tower Records site in West Hollywood|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|author=Branson-Potts, Hailey |date=November 19, 2013|title=No historic designation for Tower Records store on Sunset Strip|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]}}</ref>

[[File:WQXR CD promotion ad (1986).png|thumb|An advertisement from [[WQXR-FM|WQXR]] promoting CD compilation for Tower Records, 1986]]

In New York City, Tower Records operated a suite of stores on and near lower [[Broadway (Manhattan)|Broadway]] in [[Greenwich Village]]. The main store was located at the southeast corner of East 4th Street and Broadway. The Tower Records Annex was in the same building, located at the southwest corner of East 4th and [[Lafayette Street]]. The third store, Tower Video, was located on the southeast corner of East 4th and Lafayette Street, and specialized in video and the second floor of this location also sold books.{{citation needed|date=September 2019}} Their location on the [[Upper West Side]], near [[Lincoln Center]] on [[66th Street (Manhattan)|66th Street]] and Broadway, was a magnet for those working in the field of musical theatre.{{citation needed|date=October 2015}}  There was also a location in the basement of Trump Tower, and a small clearance annex on 86th Street on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.

The Nashville location on West End Avenue (across from [[Vanderbilt University]]) was in a former [[Packard]] dealership. The old showroom floor in front was devoted to CDs, cassettes and vinyl. The area in the back housed videocassette sales and rentals, PC and console games and music paraphernalia.{{Citation needed|date=May 2016}} The strip mall next door contained a separate Tower Books. The location was famous for their late-night Monday events that culminated at midnight on Tuesday when staff started ringing up sales of new releases. Because of the store's proximity to [[Music Row]], country music stars could occasionally be seen performing or shopping there.{{Citation needed|date=May 2016}}
As part of a 2002 settlement with 41 states over [[CD price fixing]] Tower Records, along with retailers [[Musicland]] and [[Trans World Entertainment]], agreed to pay a $3&nbsp;million (~${{Format price|{{Inflation|index=US-GDP|value=3000000|start_year=2002}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US-GDP}}) fine.<ref name="billboard">{{cite magazine|url=https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/74008/cd-price-fixing-suit-settled-for-143-million |title=CD Price Fixing Suit Settled For $143 Million  |magazine=Billboard |date=October 1, 2002 |access-date=2016-04-26}}</ref> It is estimated that between 1995 and 2000 customers were overcharged by nearly $500&nbsp;million and up to $5 per album.<ref name="nyt">{{cite news|author=Stephen Labaton |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/05/11/business/5-music-companies-settle-federal-case-on-cd-price-fixing.html |title=5 Music Companies Settle Federal Case on CD Price-Fixing  |newspaper=The New York Times |date=May 11, 2000 |access-date=2016-04-26}}</ref>

In 2005, the company began using "scan and listen" stations in its stores. These stations allowed customers to listen to audio samples from CDs and to search for particular songs, albums and artists. In the years that followed, this model of listening station was still used at the Arizona-based chain Zia Records.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.touchmedia.com/news_items/tm_mar_07_06.pdf|title=Tower Records Deploys TouchMedia's In-Store Digital Media Stations|publisher=TouchMedia|access-date=August 22, 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110717075835/http://www.touchmedia.com/news_items/tm_mar_07_06.pdf|archive-date=July 17, 2011|df=mdy-all}}</ref>

In 2006, the company introduced the Tower Insider program. The program was free of charge and allowed a customer to receive a membership card that could be scanned with each purchase, allowing the customer to receive coupons and notification of special deals via e-mail.{{citation needed|date=October 2015}}

In addition to [[compact disc]]s and [[cassette tape]]s, the stores sold DVDs, electronic gadgets like mp3 players, video games, accessories, and toys, and a few Tower Records locations sold books as well, such as those in [[Fremont, California|Fremont]], [[Brea, California|Brea]], [[Mountain View, California|Mountain View]], and Sacramento, California, as well as stores in [[Austin, Texas|Austin]], [[Boston, Massachusetts]], [[Nashville, Tennessee|Nashville]], [[New York City]], [[Portland, Oregon]], and [[Seattle]] and [[Bellevue, Washington]].

=== ''Pulse!'' magazine===
{{See also|Pulse! (magazine)}}

In 1983, the company began publishing a music magazine, ''[[Pulse! (magazine)|Pulse!]]'', which contained record reviews, interviews, and advertising.{{Citation needed|date=May 2016}} Initially, it was given away free in their stores to promote their record sales. After nine years, in 1992, the magazine began national distribution with a cover price of $2.95, (~${{Format price|{{Inflation|index=US|value=2.95|start_year=1992}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US}}) but it was canceled when the company discontinued U.S. operations. From 1983 until December 2002 Tower Records published it monthly, 222 issues in all.{{Citation needed|date=May 2016}}

===Bankruptcy===
Tower Records entered [[Chapter 11, Title 11, United States Code|Chapter 11]] bankruptcy for the first time in 2004. Factors cited were the heavy debt incurred during its aggressive expansion in the 1990s, growing competition from mass discounters and [[copyright infringement|Internet piracy]].<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tower-records-files-for-bankruptcy/ |work=CBS News |title=Tower Records Files For Bankruptcy |date=February 9, 2004}}</ref> Mismanagement, managerial incompetence, and crippling restrictions from the first bankruptcy deal also contributed to Tower's demise.<ref>{{cite news |author = Jens F. Laurson & George A. Pieler| title = The Tower that Fell| work = [[Forbes]]| date = November 15, 2006| url = https://www.forbes.com/2006/11/15/tower-music-bankruptcy-oped-cx_jfl_1115tower.html | access-date = 2020-10-10 }}</ref>

Some observers took a pragmatic view. As [[Robert Moog]], inventor of the [[Moog synthesizer]], has stated: "I'm sorry if Tower Records' and Blockbuster's sales plummet. On the other hand, it wasn't that long ago that those megastore chains drove a lot of neighborhood record stores out of business."<ref>{{cite news|title=Synthesizer Pioneer: Dr. Robert Moog|author= Kettlewell, Ben |date= March–April 2003 |work=ArtistPro Magazine|page= 47}}</ref>

In February 2004, the debt was estimated to be between $80&nbsp;million and $100&nbsp;million, and assets totaled just over $100&nbsp;million.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3473877.stm |work=BBC News |title=Tower Records declares bankruptcy |date=February 9, 2004 |access-date=May 25, 2010}}</ref>

On August 20, 2006, Tower Records filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy for the second time, in order to facilitate a purchase of the company prior to the holiday shopping season.<ref>{{cite news| author = Dow Jones Newswires| author-link = Dow Jones Newswires| title = Tower Records files for bankruptcy | work = [[Chicago Tribune]]| date = August 22, 2006| url = http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/music/chi-0608220240aug22,1,1879849.story | access-date = 2006-08-22}}{{Dead link|date=July 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=no }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author1=Associated Press, AP |title=Tower execs get bankruptcy bonuses |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/tower-execs-get-bankruptcy-bonuses-145833 |website=[[The Hollywood Reporter]] |date=2006-09-12}}</ref>

===Liquidation===
[[Image:Tower Records 3.jpg|thumb|right|A liquidating Tower Records store in [[Portland, Oregon]].]]

On October 6, 2006, Great American Group won an auction of the company's assets and commenced liquidation proceedings the following day. This included going-out-of-business sales at all U.S. Tower Records locations, the last of which closed on December 22, 2006. The Tower Records website was sold separately<ref>{{cite news |last=Morris |first=Chris |date=7 October 2006 |title=Tower Records to be liquidated |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/search/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003221956 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070515093550/http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/search/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003221956 |url-status=dead |archive-date=May 15, 2007 |work=[[The Hollywood Reporter]] |access-date=16 December 2023}}</ref> to Caiman Inc.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Schweitzer |first=Vivien |date=20 March 2007 |title=Tower.com Purchased by Caiman |url=https://playbill.com/article/towercom-purchased-by-caiman |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201129230807/https://playbill.com/article/towercom-purchased-by-caiman |archive-date=29 November 2020 |url-status=live |work=[[Playbill]] |access-date=16 December 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last1=Christman |first1=Ed |agency=Associated Press |title=Caiman Rebuilds Tower |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/caiman-rebuilds-tower-135123/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220322051052/https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/caiman-rebuilds-tower-135123/ |archive-date=22 March 2022 |url-status=live |work=[[The Hollywood Reporter]] |access-date=16 December 2023}}</ref>

The managers of [[f.y.e.]], a music store chain based in shopping malls, had negotiated a deal to acquire the two historic Tower locations in the latter's home base of Sacramento. f.y.e. later backed out, stating that the "leases aren't what we thought they were". f.y.e. did acquire the lease of the West End Avenue store in [[Nashville, Tennessee|Nashville]],<ref>{{cite news |last=Moore |first=Tracy |date=November 10, 2006 |title=Buh-Bye, Tower West End; Hello f.y.e |url=http://www.nashvillescene.com/nashvillecream/archives/2006/11/10/buh-bye-tower-west-end-hello-fye |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151006103413/http://www.nashvillescene.com/nashvillecream/archives/2006/11/10/buh-bye-tower-west-end-hello-fye |url-status=dead |archive-date=October 6, 2015 |work=Nashville Scene |access-date=September 19, 2014}}</ref> which eventually closed in 2011. f.y.e. also took over Tower Records in [[Torrance, CA|Torrance]], which continued to operate until early 2016.

Rasputin Music, a new and used music and video store based in the [[San Francisco Bay Area]], expanded in the [[Central Valley (California)|Central Valley of California]] by acquiring the leases for the former Tower Records stores in [[Fresno, California|Fresno]] and [[Stockton, California|Stockton]].