February 2023

Video: All Things Must Pass: The Rise And Fall Of Tower Records Documentary
Thanks to Gravitas Movies you can now enjoy this special documentary about Tower Records.

  For this week's Film Friday Enjoy the Music.com is featuring All Things Must Pass: The Rise And Fall Of Tower Records. Established in 1960, Tower Records was once a retail powerhouse with 200 stores, in 30 countries, on five continents. This documentary, directed by Colin Hanks, is about the rise and fall of this once great retailer.

Many music lovers within the world are familiar with Tower Records, the company that advertised its East 4th Street and Broadway New York City location as "The Largest Record-Tape Store in the Known World". This documentary also offers insights into the critical upheavals in the 21st-century recording industry and music business.

According to Wiki, "The film's production reportedly took seven years and was completed in 2015 only thanks to a $92,000 round of Kickstarter funding. Hanks settled on the film's title after driving by an old Tower Records store and seeing a sign that had been put up by a former employee: 'All Things Must Pass Thanks Sacramento'. Moved by the sentiment, Hanks was reminded of George Harrison's 1970 triple album All Things Must Pass and asked the artist's widow, Olivia Harrison, for permission to use the title for his film. Hanks was also granted permission to play the album's title track over the end credits."

Tower Records entered 2024 with a clear strategic pivot: fewer traditional CD-centric stores, but a stronger, more profitable business model built around experiential retail and digital-supported commerce. The company continued closing underperforming locations—dropping from 89 stores in 2012 to 73 by mid-2026—but this contraction did not signal decline. Instead, Tower Records focused on transforming its remaining flagship sites into cultural destinations and reallocating resources toward high-growth areas such as vinyl LPs, collectibles, and community-driven fandom experiences. This shift aligned with broader market trends, including Japan's 45% surge in vinyl sales in 2024 and the global analog revival, giving Tower Records a powerful foundation for reinvention.

By 2025, Tower Records' Shibuya flagship became the centerpiece of this transformation. The company announced a sweeping renovation culminating in a February 2026 reopening, reimagining the nine-story building as an immersive hub for music lovers, tourists, and pop culture fans. The expanded Tower Vinyl floor—targeting over 100,000 J-pop titles—capitalized on Japan's booming vinyl production, which reached its highest level since 1999. The addition of a craft beer bar and enlarged anime and gaming zones signaled a deliberate move away from transactional retail toward experiential engagement. Tower Records positioned itself not merely as a store, but as a destination where analog music, otaku culture, and social experiences converge.

At the same time, Tower Records embraced a modernized business model that redefined the role of physical media. Rather than treating CDs as declining commodities, the company reframed them as "physical tokens of one's favorite artist," tapping into Japan's thriving fan-culture economy. This strategy helped Tower Records achieve record profitability: net profit for the fiscal year ending February 2026 reached ¥2.1 billion (Yen), its highest ever, even as store closures continued. The company demonstrated that profitability no longer correlates with store count, but with the ability to adapt formats, optimize locations, and connect products to evolving consumer motivations.

A major pillar of Tower Records' 2024 through 2026 growth was the launch of Tower Records Marketplace, an online platform enabling record shops to list inventory with minimal friction. Introduced in 2024, the marketplace attracted more than 3,000 shops by 2026, including competitors like HMV—an unexpected but strategically valuable collaboration. The platform's barcode-based listing system reduced labor, expanded reach, and strengthened Tower Records' role as a central hub in Japan's record store ecosystem. By 2026, even large shops such as HMV Shinsaibashi reported that the marketplace "exceeded expectations," proving Tower Records' ability to innovate beyond brick-and-mortar and shape the future of physical music retail.

Tower Records grew to the point that in 1999 they made an impressive $1 billion ($1.78 billion in 2023 USA Dollar value), yet in 2006 the company filed for bankruptcy. The full-length movie below answers the questions what happened back then, and why?