Ep. 13 Keith Cahoon Pt. 2 (Tower Japan)

2500 DelMonte Street: The Oral History of Tower Records

You’ve gotten the call to go to Japan and run Tower Records Asian Operations…now what? In part two of our podcast interview with Keith Cahoon, he takes us through his journey navigating the record business in a place that originally didn't want Tower Records to succeed.

In fact, initially, many of the major Japanese record companies would not sell to Tower Records. But that didn’t deter Keith Cahoon and his team (after taking over from Mark Viducich & Stan Barton) from moving forward and building one of the largest retail brands Japan had ever seen.

In this episode of our podcast, Keith Cahoon attempts to set the record on the original businessmen who reached out to Russ Solomon about opening in Japan, the prevailing wisdom of why the record labels discouraged in store appearances and performances from musicians, and who Tower reached out to for the first Tower Japan instore.
Keith also explains what the “Large Retail Store Law” was about, Russ Solomon’s regular visits and scouting for locations, which Tower Big Wig would insist on eating at Kentucky Fried Chicken when they visited, the amazing team he worked with to build, expand and grow Tower’s Asian business, and finally, the precise moment Keith sensed things were over for the future of Tower Records. Keith also offers his final thoughts on the legacy of Tower Records founder Russ Solomon.
If the film "All Things Must Pass" made you more aware of Tower Records Asian operations, this episode will completely open your eyes to how a kid from Stockton, with a lot of help, was able to run a retail music empire.