A towering loss

I believe fiercely in supporting mom-and-pop, independent music stores (all the way from Japan, I still order my CDs from Greenville, South Carolina's Horizon Records), so Tower Records never had my strong allegiance. But hell, I hate to see it go. I spent some good hours browsing there when I lived in the States, and now that I'm in Tokyo, the sight of the massive (eight stories!) Tower Records in Shibuya is like a little slice of home, not to mention a great place to snag new Americana CDs (yep, they carry 'em, even here!) when I can't bear to wait for a mail order.

While Tower wasn't exactly a mom-and-pop operation, it did support independent artists way more than, oh, say, Wal-Mart or other big-box stores. And its fall will make the job of an independent artist that much harder. Here's an interesting look at just how Tower was helpful -- their relationship with indie artists went way deeper than I realized.