All That Remains Of Tower Records: A Brand Worth $4.2 Million

from the obit-time dept

After years of struggles and being unable to recognize the changing market, last October, Tower Records finally gave up the ghost and decided to liquidate. All the stores have been shut down, but in a small sign of potential life, apparently a company in the British Virgin Islands has decided that the Tower Records trademark is worth $4.2 million. There are apparently no limitations on what the new owners can do with the brand within the US (and some foreign countries -- others, like Japan, have already licensed the Tower Records brand for totally separate stores). It will definitely be interesting to see what the new owner of the brand does with it. While setting up new brick and mortar stores seems like a dangerous move, creating a real (read:no DRM) digital music store competitor, and tapping into the immediate brand recognition (and nostalgia surrounding the brand) could make for an interesting entrant into the space. Alternatively, if they were really sneaky, they might try to set up shop in Antigua and offer a service like Allofmp3.com.
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  1. identicon
    Daniel, 20 Mar 2007 @ 10:53am

    So sad. I remember seeing John Lennon in the Sunset Strip TR once in the 70's. I remember late night jaunts to the San Francisco (Bay & Columbus) store in the 80's. It wasn't just another record store ...

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. identicon
    Witty Nickname, 20 Mar 2007 @ 10:53am

    Obvious

    It is quite obvious what this firm wants the trademark for. They are going to build a website devoted to the world's tallest buildings.

    Duh!

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. identicon
    Casper, 20 Mar 2007 @ 11:01am

    Oh well

    I don't care that much... the business model was based around the media which has gone away. If they can get some money from the trade mark, good for them. Maybe the next incarnation will adapt to technology better.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  4. identicon
    anony cow, 20 Mar 2007 @ 11:12am

    wow, $4.2 mill! that gives me hope for the sale of my buggywhips.com URL!!!!

    link to this | view in thread ]

  5. identicon
    dorpus, 20 Mar 2007 @ 11:33am

    International Chimeras

    The US media announced last year that Wal-Mart has shut down in Germany, but when I was in Germany in November, Wal-Mart was there and doing well. Tower Records has never gone away in Japan either -- it has remained a high-profile business.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  6. identicon
    thinkart, 20 Mar 2007 @ 11:44am

    my guess

    my guess is that the British Virgin Islands co. realized "Tower Records" might be enough of a memorable brand name to compete with digital music....towerrecords.com vs itunes

    link to this | view in thread ]

  7. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 20 Mar 2007 @ 12:17pm

    creating a real (read:no DRM) digital music store

    "... Artists choosing to abandon DRM in favor of good old-fashioned MP3 have seen 40% growth in sales since December. Good to see someone in the business both 'gets it' and is willing to do something about it..."

    http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/03/20/1723257&from=rss

    It's pretty clear what the public wants ...

    link to this | view in thread ]

  8. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 20 Mar 2007 @ 1:54pm

    Since digital.towerrecords.com is already selling DRM'ed music I'm not sure why anyone would expect that to change.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  9. identicon
    Sohrab, 20 Mar 2007 @ 2:20pm

    we can bicker all we want about DRAM and anything but the fact remains that indeed, the name Tower Records is recognized and a powerful name. Nobody is going to think "Tower Records, wow, DRAM and digital music sales"

    So for a company who wants to possibly get into the Music Business, why not purchase that name

    link to this | view in thread ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.