TOWER RECORDS JOINS LILITH FAIR SPONSORSHIP LINE UP FOR SECOND YEAR

Sacramento, CA - The world's largest independent music and entertainment retailer, Tower Records announces its involvement as a sponsor of this year's Lilith Fair. Tower Records will join the sponsorship ranks of Chevrolet, Tommy Girl Cologne and Biore.

Following the success of Tower Records participation in '98's Lilith Fair tour, the organization is set to be the official on-site record retailer for the '99 tour. With an impressive booth dedicated to the celebration of women in music, Tower Records will stock in excess of 7,000 cd, book and video units, which will tour with Lilith Fair throughout the United States.

Last year the Tower Records booth garnered much praise and attention from Lilith Fair fans, as a treasure trove for performing artists' recordings, as well as titles from eminent non-performing female artists. In addition, the opportunity to sample recordings on the many provided cd listening stations was also a highlight.

This year Lilith Fair devotees will be thrilled by the increased stock levels, cd listening stations, artist meet and greets, autograph signings and artist performances already in the planning stages. Tower Records COO, Stan Goman enthused, "We are delighted to lend our retail expertise to such an impressive all female festival once more. We found it to be a highly effective on-site marketing project last year and we are even more committed to taking Tower on the road and demonstrating our commitment to Lilith Fair in 1999!"

In addition to providing Lilith Fair attendees with the ultimate on-site music retail booth, Tower Records will also donate seven and a half percent of all on-site sales to help a worth cause, namely LIFEbeat, which provides assistance to members of the music industry living with HIV/AIDS.

Tower's comprehensive tour marketing plan will involve powerful in-store Lilith Fair merchandising, a major advertising campaign and on-line cross promotions.

Tower Records has long been recognized and respected throughout the world for its unique brand of retailing. Founded in 1960 in Sacramento, California, the company's phenomenal expansion over the last 3 decades has brought the Tower retail philosophy to 18 countries globally. Tower operates 221 record, video and book stores, including 2 art galleries and 5 outlet stores. The company launched one of the first Internet music stores on America Online in June 1995 and followed with its online store at http://www.towerrecords.com in November 1996.

Forward looking statements in this release, if any, are made under the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Certain important factors cause the results to differ materially from those anticipated by the forward looking statements, including the impact of changing economic or business conditions, other risk factors inherent in the entertainment industry and other factors discussed from time to time in reports filed by the company with the Securities Exchange Commission.