Local promoter Sean Agnew finds himself in a funny position this week: The man behind R5 Productions (est. 1996) is at the beginning of what could turn out to be a lifelong confusion of his own professional life with that of Russ Solomon, former owner of the Tower Records chain. How, you ask? Well, after Tower Records died an unholy, awful death at the end of last year, Solomon is headed back into the record business, starting a new retail brand, inexplicably titled R5 Records. Bearing a similar logo to the Philly R5 — as well as tons of questions about what kind of crazy person you’d need to be to open up a big-box record store in 2007 — this new R5 has produced bemusement in just about all who encounter it.
After the jump, we catch up with Agnew to find out if he’s gonna sue, and wonder about the fate of the record store in general.

So Agnew, how did you find out that the ancient Tower Records dude was folgering your good-ish name?
Good-ish ? You are too kind. I originally found out through a booking agent pal of mine – Sam in Chicago. He holds it down and is one of the few normal human beings in music who you can actually talk to. Anyways he sent me a “jokey” e-mail that I should sue this old man.
Well, can you? Would you?
Maybe – I would doubt it as one store operating out of California would have little to no effect on R5 productions in here. If anything, it provided 20 mins of entertainment on a message board. I dont think I would ever sue – maybe if they TRIED to come to Philly. But in this interview – the tower/r5 guy (who is 81ish) – states that he can overcome digital music and that people want “instant gratification” I dont think he realizes its quicker to download a record (either for free or via itunes) much faster – than driving to a store, seeking out the record, waiting in line and then driving home.
IT IS?
so with this current business model – I dont think he’ll come out east anytime soon. Maybe I am an idiot – but I cant imagine anyone investing in a music retail chain right now..
But seriously: Does Ancient Tower Dude’s R5 invoke the same sacred regional rail line as your nom-du-rock?
He has yet to explain why it’s named R5. He deff is not from here and definitely did not take the R5 from 7th grade till now. And on top of that he uses the same font as we and septa do (impact font). When I saw their logo (compared to ours) it was like – shit if I was a total scumbag I bet we could sue and et something out of it… Also at this time I would also like to point out that Jay-Z stole the name from his nightclub from us. We opened the original “4040″ back in 2000 !
This is the price we pay when we’re on the vanguard, dawg. So are pissed? You don’t seem to be.
Not at all – if it moves to Philly – then I might start to freak out. But I can’t see that happening. if you google “r5 Records” we are the second result – so maybe it means increased web traffic for us !
I wouldn’t bet on it, bub. But good on ya for taking the high road.
Previously: Agnew Goes To The Wing Bowl

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 13th, 2007 at 1:18 pm.