94 min
7.2
2015
Japan
Established in 1960, Tower Records was once a retail powerhouse with two hundred stores, in thirty countries, on five continents. From humble beginnings in a small-town drugstore, Tower Records eventually became the heart and soul of the music world, and a powerful force in the music industry. In 1999, Tower Records made $1 billion. In 2006, the company filed for bankruptcy. What went wrong? Everyone thinks they know what killed Tower Records: The Internet. But that's not the story. All Things Must Pass is a feature documentary film examining this iconic company's explosive trajectory, tragic demise, and legacy forged by its rebellious founder, Russ Solomon.
Overview
Reviews
Killa-What? wrote:While living in Australia and never really having anything like this type of store it's not anything really close to my heart but I can appreciate what it meant. Like so many iconic businesses of the music industry that didn't change when the digital download age came about and as such is no more.
It's a documentary about the rise and fall of Tower records, their business philosophy from day one, through to expansion to Japan and later other parts of the world. Featuring interviews with owner and CEO Russ Solomon to employees and a few names in the industry (Bruce Springsteen, Dave Grohl, Elton John, David Geffen) tells the tales of how the empire grew over a 40 year period and then died within a few years of 2000, generally because of the music industry shift from physical media to downloaded online music and not changing or foreseeing the shift.
It's an informative documentary about the places and people of the time it was around, so well worth watching. However it's a watch once, too bad so sad, move on type movie.
You might also consider checking out Sound City and It Might Get Loud.
