response 8 of 106:

Apr 15 17:55 UTC 2001

how many stores does that make that have closed in that area now? Don't
worry.. you can just get all of your music from Napster.. <eitysg>

response 10 of 106:

Apr 16 00:26 UTC 2001

Ann Arbor's music retail history doesn't seem to agree with Tim's
theory from #9.  Ann Arbor has seen not only giant mega-stores like
Tower fold, but has also lost nearly every other size and shape of
CD retailer -- mid-sized record stores like Wherehouse, local 
independents like Schoolkids' and SKR, small specialty retailers aiming
at college listeners (I can't even remember the names, but several have
attempted to establish ongoing concerns in Ann Arbor and almost all
have failed -- the only one left at present (that I know of, at least)
is the Grooveyard..)

I can't believe that the only stores that can make money selling
records in a college town are Best Buy and Wal-Mart.  A year ago
everyone was blaming the internet retailers but none of them are doing
particularly well, either.  Where's all the money going?  CD prices are
at a record high and every year sets a new record for the amount of
money Americans are spending on recorded music.  How can that be
possible when the retail outlets are withering up and dying?

response 12 of 106:

Apr 16 16:51 UTC 2001

And I know people who still insist that Napster is not affecting CD 
sales.  CD sales are still going up, they say.  But not in the vicinity 
of colleage campuses, where they've plunged, I observe.  But CD sales 
are still going up, they say.

response 14 of 106:

Apr 18 17:40 UTC 2001

To answer Dave in resp:8 :: I count seven big CD stores gone from my usual
circuit, but my circuit is unusual because I am bimunicipal -- my daily life
includes both Ann Arbor and East Lansing.   The casualty list is: 2 Michigan 
Wherehouse Records, 2 Tower Records, and then in Ann Arbor, the original 
Schoolkids, and the spinoff/successor stores SKR Classical and
SKR Rock/Pop/Jazz/Blues.

I started an item on Cafe Utne to ask if this sort of a wipeout was being 
seen anywhere else, and while this is not a scientific survey, so far the 
answer seems to be no, the catastrophic wipeout is a Michigan phenomenon.
(Mike:  what does Seattle's retail scene seem like?   Mickey, how's Austin
doing?)

response 16 of 106:

Apr 19 00:24 UTC 2001

I'm back from making a run at the East Lansing Tower, my first trip 
there since the closing was announced.  The sale is $4 off the normal
prices of most discs.  There is a stark contrast between this Tower
closing and the closings in Ann Arbor -- there is still an awful lot
of merchandise in that store.   Is it possible that even at sale
prices, MSU students are no longer willing to buy CDs?  In last year's
closing of Where House Records in East Lansing, the store was quickly
stripped of the best stuff.  

Classic rock seems particularly well stocked.   
I picked up two Jethro Tull CDs for $9 each, 
and Horslips/LIVE (a 2-cd set) for $18.  There's some personal irony
in the Horslips item; I almost got it back in the 1970s at a long-forgotten
head shop and record store in downtown Lansing, but that store went out
of business before I bought the copy.   I never saw that item again
in the LP era; it's recently out on a band-approved CD from Edsel, after
the band won a court fight against their old label.  But I digress.

response 18 of 106:

Apr 25 00:40 UTC 2001

I don't think it's a matter of students not buying CD's, it's still 
that they can find what they want cheaper. That's the main reason my 
friends and I never shop at Tower, and are tentative now because with 
the discounts they prices are starting to get back into reasonable 
college student prices. 
And as a Napster user, I *have* bought more CD's since using it. I've 
found a lot of bands that I never would have heard of, and was able to 
decide not to waste my money on CD's I heard were good but when I 
listened to them they sucked. <shrug> 

response 20 of 106:

May 15 23:32 UTC 2001

It's got to be the fault of those pesky kids, trading symphony 
recordings on Napster..

[Did anyone else watch Futurama this week with its digs at "Nappster"
(aka "KidNappster")?]

response 22 of 106:

May 16 20:32 UTC 2001

resp:20 - funny, Mike, but of course classical isn't where Tower ever 
made its money, and consequently that's not how they're losing it.

Since a vast percentage of my classical purchases are CDs from those 
very distributors from Tower, I'm concerned about alternate sources.  
Searching for classical recordings on Amazon is very difficult, and 
browsing for just about anything on Amazon (a la wandering the aisles 
of a brick&mortar store) is just about impossible.  Any better online 
sources?

response 24 of 106:

May 27 22:13 UTC 2001

We discussed the problems of online browsing for classical CDs 
recently,  and in that discussion you (David) had the suggestion of 
browsing a Schwann catalog instead.  I haven't got a better solution.  
CD Connection's search functions may be a tiny bit better than Amazon's.

Other than that, there's Borders, which in Ann Arbor was the weakest 
of the three classical CD shops, but now it's all we have left.
I suspect the model becomes that one will now browse magazines and 
radio shows, rather than actually being able to paw through piles or 
lists of discs. 

response 26 of 106:

Jun 26 19:01 UTC 2001

http://www.latimes.com/business/20010623/t000051875.html
 
Excerpts:  
 
"Tower Records... may have to file for bankruptcy protection if it 
cannot restructure weakening finances in the coming months, according
to the nation's top bond rating agency."    ...
 
"The 41-year-old Tower is being squeezed by a decline in album sales and 
a protracted price war with discount houses that is driving down 
profit margins." ...

"Music merchants say sales are down 5% to 10% for the first six 
months of the year, following disappointing showings by releases from
such big-name acts as Ricky Martin, Aerosmith and Depeche Mode....
According to research firm SoundScan... album sales at chain stores are
down about 3.6% from a year ago."
 
"Record chains such as Tower also blame their tepid sales on 
cutthroat competition from discount houses such as Best Buy, which 
purchase CDs from manufacturers for about $10.80 and often sell them
for less than $10 to lure customers in to buy other products such as 
electronic equipment..."

"In a regulatory filing, Tower said it also would close or sell its 
operations in Canada."

response 28 of 106:

Jul 1 05:50 UTC 2001

  I went out record shopping yesterday with a walletful of cash,
  determined to buy several albums I'd borrowed from the library
  and enjoyed..  I found several of the albums I'd intended to 
  pick up, as well as several other interesting-looking possibilities,
  but I wound up leaving the store empty-handed -- I just couldn't
  bring myself to pay what the store was asking for the CDs.

  The least-expected I'd selected was priced at $16.99, and a couple
  of my selections were $18.99 for a single new CD.  If I'd gone to
  a store like Best Buy instead of the independent record store at
  which I'd been shopping, I probably could have saved a dollar or
  two per disc, but I doubt I could've brought myself to buy most of
  my selections even at a "mere" $15.99 per CD.  The area where I live
  in Washington state has an 8.6% sales tax, so a $17.99 CD costs me
  almost $20.00 total..

  Back when new CDs were routinely priced in the $11.99 - $12.99 range,
  I used to go to the record store and come home with 7 or 8 new purchases
  every couple of weeks.  It wasn't unusual for me to buy 100 to 150 new
  records a year in those days.  Nowadays, though, I can't clearly remember
  the last time I left a record store with more than three full-length
  releases, and I've probably purchased less than 20 new albums so far this
  year.  It's true that my purchases have slowed partly because I've already
  collected a lot of the albums I wanted, but even these days, when I rarely
  try out new artists because I don't want to take a $20 gamble, there's
  still a backlog of music on my "I really ought to buy that.." list.
  At the current rate, however, most of the entries on that list are going
  to remain there indefinitely.  If the RIAA wants to know why record sales
  are dropping, my best guess is that they're pricing most people out of 
  trying new music..

response 30 of 106:

Jul 1 15:37 UTC 2001

From the June 15th promotional e-mail from the NorthSide label, which
specializes in issuing Scandinavian folk & folk-related music for the 
North American market: 
 
> At the same time, we're dealing with growing problems
> at U.S. record retail, so unless you're one of the
> lucky few that has a great independent record store
> in your town, be sure to visit our website often
> and take advantage of our secure server to buy direct.

They did not elaborate on what those problems were.