Before the age of downloadable music, Tower Records was the place to be for all your music megastore needs. From 1960 to 2006, Tower Records operated over 200 stores in over 15 countries and made over a billion dollars in revenue per annum. Now only a few independent stores exist, none in the United States. On the upside, we did get the cult classic film Empire Records as a result; writer Carol Heikkinen was a former Tower Records employee.