End of an Era

End of an Era
Originally uploaded by kardinalsin.

The closure of Tower Records is just one step closer to the digital age, not because people are buying iTunes music like crazy, but because local record stores can't keep up with what was once an album-based market place that is quickly turning into a track-based marketplace. Who really is going to buy the entire album, or listen to the entire album, when everyone's digital audio player is constantly tagged to "shuffle?" We truly do stand at the doorway of a new wave of distribution. Part of it is very exciting, but part of it is also disheartening.

It was with true sadness that I made my final visit to a Tower Records store with only a mere 5 days before it's final closing. The store itself, very unkempt and dilapidated from its impending boarded windows, was quite bare. Nary a popular disc in sight, what was once a proud bastion of independent record store heaven is now a depressing testament to how much the market has changed in the last decade. While iTunes is bustling with exclusive albums and television shows, Tower is stuck with the dregs of musical history including such stalwarts as "Moot Ditty" and "BB Mack." When your employees have to start labeling the Rap section as the Crap section, you know the industry is in trouble.

Tower does have a fond place in my heart. It stands as the place where I discovered the music of Interpol and The Mars Volta, but it is also the first retailer that sold Kubricks in the United States. Before I discovered Kidrobot and other outlets, Tower was the place where I went for getting my vinyl fix, in more ways than one. It was there that I learned to enjoy Rock, Trance, Trip Hop, Bluegrass, Indie, Jazz, and other genres all under one roof and even though its catalog cannot compare to the massive expanse of Amoeba it was the place I knew I could go to discover new talent or even re-discover the old.

Even now, while I purchase music from Rhapsody and other digital marketplaces, nothing compares to actually flipping through jewel cases through the aisles of an actual store. If it wasn't for the hundreds of discs taking up space in the apartment, I'd no doubt be making the trip more often than before. Where now, will people go for a Ticketmaster outlet, where will people go to pick up the local music and event rag? I understand that the online era is king these days, but it doesn't make the fact that one of my favorite stores is going to be shuttered forever.

So it's with great lamentation that I bid Tower Records a fond and bitter farewell. From here on, it's Amoeba or bust.