Free Republic

If you see a pack of senior citizens whooping it up in Sacramento tonight, you best step aside. They might just be a group of former Tower Records employees in town to party about the past. Hundreds of former Tower Records employees have descended on the home of the defunct record store chain for an employee reunion timed with the theatrical release of “All Things Must Pass,” the Colin Hanks documentary about the life and death of the chain. “I think it’s great that we are still a family,” said Theresa Allen, 69. She started at the company at age...

NEW YORK (Billboard) - When Tower Records heads into a Delaware bankruptcy court within the next week, the first motions it files are expected to be one that will convert bondholders into majority owners of the chain and one asking the court to rule for an unimpairment of trade debt.   Tower management is moving forward on a pre-packaged Chapter 11 filing, since most large creditors agree with the reorganization plans. The filing is necessary to complete a restructuring begun two years ago and is needed to force a debt-to-equity conversion, which would strengthen the chain's balance sheet. Sources say...

Millions of music buyers will receive a check for about $12.60 in the mail if a settlement of a price-fixing lawsuit wins court approval today. U.S. District Judge D. Brock Hornby will hold a hearing to determine whether the $44 million settlement is fair. Roughly 3.5 million U.S. residents who purchased music between 1995 and 2000 registered for claims in the price-fixing suit against major record labels and large music retailers. Hornby also will determine whether registrants who failed to sign penalty of perjury documents will be allowed to share in the settlement and whether petitions of Canadian residents who...