Yo! MC: The Next Jam!

11.13.2006 - Back in the late 90s, Tower Records opened a store in the Philippines through a franchise collaboration between an American company and Ayala. This was good news to the local scene. An American brand coming to the country, and it was Tower Records that would possibly lead to its UK competitor, like His Master's Voice, or known as HMV, would follow suit. Tower Records has a wide range of music selection,s namely Japanese music and other foreign artists not heard on Philippine radio. There's no other record store that would compete with that kind of music selection from other countries. The only thing that kept the growth was the price increase on audio CDs, which includes direct imports not produced locally.

By mid-2001, Tower Records lost its luster when it was acquired by local rival Music One, which now operates its surviving stores and is closing the other branches in favor of becoming its parent company. This company has been true to delivering a wide range of selections of audio music, but they fell short in bringing those rare and classic music that your parents used to listen to. Tower Records gave that competition, but fell short in attracting the masses, due to prices that were no longer affordable. Besides, with the rise of audio piracy online, like Napster, it slowly killed the retail market. After more than six years in the country, Tower Records will slowly cease to exist here in the Philippines.

I spoke to one of the branch managers of Tower Records in Pampanga last October 2006, who said changes would happen before the end of this year. It was true about the changes, since the "Tower Records" brand name is indeed expensive to pay for its franchise rights. Now that it's no longer here, the closest Tower Records branch would be in Hong Kong. But the news over there is also bleak for its future. The only surviving branch of Tower Records can be found in Japan, which is a separate entity having grown its market in that part of Asia.

Now that Tower Records is no longer here, the question remains: would Music One continue that kind of concept in bringing music to everyone? As they say... No Music. No Life.