I don't wanna buy all my CDs online!!!

God damn it.

Here's the latest, from today's Chronicle:

Tower Records has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection from its creditors, its second such filing in less than three years.

The company, which operates 89 stores in 20 states, sought bankruptcy protection Sunday to sell its assets through a court-supervised auction.

The Sacramento, Calif.-based company, formally known as MTS Inc., asked the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., to approve the rules governing an auction now slated for Oct. 5. Tower said it needs to close the sale by mid-October so it has time to prepare for the holiday shopping season, when it records about 32 percent of its annual sales.

Tower, which is slated to go before the bankruptcy court for the first time Tuesday morning, said its revenue fell to $430 million for the fiscal year ended July 31 from $476.1 million a year earlier.

The company admits "intense" competition has hurt its business and that of other music retailers.

"The brick-and-mortar specialty music retail industry has suffered substantial deterioration recently," Tower said in court papers.

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 purveyors and big-box retailers.

Phil Leigh, a senior analyst for Inside Digital Media Inc., said the Tower brand has value and will find a buyer, but its stores aren't likely to survive this latest bankruptcy.

"I think they'll sell off the name and liquidate the inventory," Leigh said.

Leigh and others who monitor the sector say traditional music retailers are fading away as online music sales explode and big-box players like Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Target Corp., Best Buy Co. and Circuit City Stores Inc. offer one-stop shopping for busy consumers.

Tower Records, however, said it's seen "substantial interest among potential buyers" and hopes to find a buyer willing to continue operating its stores. The company said it's actively negotiating with one potential buyer and received another offer on the eve of its bankruptcy filing.

It's "absolutely our intention to keep the Tower brand alive," spokeswoman Lisa Amore said.

In a statement Sunday, Chief Executive Joseph D'Amico said potential buyers recognize the "strength of the brand and its unique position within the marketplace."

Tower emerged from a quick Chapter 11 case in 2004 under the ownership of its bondholders and a trust created by founder Russell Solomon. Rival Musicland Holding Corp. filed for Chapter 11 protection in January and sold its assets, including the Sam Goody chain, to Trans World Entertainment Corp., a rumored Tower suitor.

"It's kind of shocking how many pure-play music retailers have closed down in the time that we've been tracking the market," said Russ Crupnick, a music and movies industry analyst for the NPD Group.

Legal music download retailers like Apple Computer Inc.'s iTunes have played a major role in displacing traditional retailers. Nielsen SoundScan data, cited by Tower in bankruptcy-court filings, said legal digital downloads grew 200 percent in 2005 while album sales fell 7.8 percent.

Data compiled by NPD Group ranked Tower as the No. 9 seller of physical music, including CDs, in 2002. In the first six months of 2006, it was tied for 12th, Crupnick said.

More here.

Edit: I just realized this email was in my inbox:

A message from the CEO of Tower Records:

I’d like to personally update you on what’s happening at Tower and why this is such good news for you.

As the CEO of Tower, I announced Sunday night that Tower is filing Chapter 11 reorganization. That might not sound like good news, but for the over 3,000 employees of Tower and Tower.com, as well as for our millions of loyal customers, it’s actually very good news. Here’s why:

We have the financing in place to continue operations as usual and have the product you have come to expect in our stores. And if we don’t, we can get it for you. It also means that we are now positioned to sell our company within the next 60 days or so, in time to have even more product for the holiday season. Most importantly, as usual, Tower gift cards are still good in any of our stores or on Tower.com.

And now the best news of all: take advantage of our "Buy 4 Get 5," in store promotion and, when you bring this email in to any store between now and September 4, we’ll give you an additional $5.00 "CEO Discount" as a token of our appreciation for your loyalty. More savings for you!

Russ Solomon, the founder of Tower Records, recognized the need to cater to you, the music and movie junkie, by opening the world’s first music superstore in 1960. Today Tower is still the industry leader, thanks to you, our customer.

So come by and see what’s new in our stores and we’ll continue to keep you posted on our progress.

Joe D’Amico, CEO

Yeah, I went by yesterday to see what was new in your store, and to see if you have the Radiodread CD, and it's not even in your computer!

I suppose that 300$ that they gouged from me didn't allow them to stay in the black.

If only I would have faux-shoplifted from their stores like 100,000 times....

The CEO from Tower sent me a letter today. He said he's gonna give me $5 off on my next purchase. Sweet!

Fortunately for him, all his stores will be boarded up and out of business, so no chance that discount will ever have to be honoured.

Well, it was still open this morning. So boo on you! I still win!

I just pulled the offending word from my sig, though, finally, so, I'm a winner, too. No more imperiling TimmyJoe or DayStar. (Though, being in Ohio, public masturbation is about the least of one's problems.)

GET YOUR GOOSE ON!

Ohhh...I have sigs turned off while at work. Let's see what it says now...

awwwww poor price fixing assholes

Yep. They're going out of business just like United Airlines.

Oh wait.

I wouldn't qualify it as sad, just reality. Music shops with brick and mortar can and will survive, but mall stores selling $18 cds will die a hard death. Good fucking ridance.

Yeah I haven't bought anything at Tower in at least 3 years.

I went shopping at Tower the other day and found $12-13 CDs. Do your stores really jack up the price or what?

Btw, Virgin is having their $10 sale again. I'm going shopping soon.

Yeah, I got that, too.

Smells like desperation.

usually tower's in the $13 to $18 range for me, but i haven't been there in years. virgin was about as bad, but at least they had some "red tag" promotions now'n'then.

Jesus. What Tower are you going to?

I actually like the one here Atlanta. It's huge and you can find some good stuff used on cd and vinyl.

I went there last night and bought 4 new, 2006 release cds and 4 used records for $50.

FYI (because I'm so proud of em), this is what I got on vinyl:

Charles Mingus - Mingus Ah Um
The Pogues - Rum, Sodomy, and the Lash
The Rolling Stones - England's Newest Hitmakers
Elvis Costello - Trust

All ranging from decent to above avg condition. $10 for all 4.

the tower records near me is actually pretty good. I prefer it to virgin most of the time.

when i was back in MD this past week, our rental car didn't have a cassette deck, so i couldn't use my mp3 player, so we ended up at my old favorite Tower Records on Rockville Pike before we started on our 3 hour drive to Charlottesville, VA and i found the selection was wonderful, and the prices were not that bad ranging anywhere from $9.99 to $13.99.

not really sure what my point is other than wanting to construct a horrible run-on sentence.

f tower records...i am suprised alot of you still buy stuff from that place......

the only good thing is their magazine selection.....screw playing those expensive prices for cds

tower in chicago is pretty good - excellent import section, new releases on sale, good magazines and books, good dvd section (especially music), a lot of in-store performances, and great jazz and classical areas.

do they still do that? i know back in the day that had some sweet shows..ie radiohead, smashing pumpkins, etc.....

OH NO, if tower closes i will only have 7 record stores in a 4 block radius to my apartment!!!!!!

heaven forbid......

they don't bring any of those big names anymore, but i saw spoon there last year. and i've seen a handful of local and a few smaller touring bands play there too.

i do enjoy tower though, it's the only place near me with a decent magazine rack.

hah! the jokes on you..

i would only have 6 within 4 blocks of me!! well, 11 if you wanna give me three more blocks to play with.