Musicians lament the loss of recordings in Universal Fire, a decade

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Several well-known musicians lamented Wednesday that some of their recordings were among thousands of original masters who, according to the New York Times Magazine, were lost in the 2008 Universal Studios Hollywood fire.

The fire, which destroyed a popular attraction of "King Kong" and a band of the studio's legendary outdoor grounds, also destroyed almost all of the master recordings stored in the Universal Music Group's archives, a loss that has not been revealed for a long time, reported Tuesday magazine.

In a 2009 confidential report, Universal Music estimated that the loss encompassed approximately 500,000 song titles, according to the article.

In a statement released on Wednesday, the company described the incident as "deeply regrettable," but said the newspaper contained numerous "inaccuracies, misleading statements, contradictions, and fundamental misunderstandings of the magnitude of the problem." ;incident".

The extent of the loss, documented in litigation and company records cited in the cited article, was largely concealed from the public through a concerted effort on the part of the music label, the magazine said.

Many artists whose own material was destroyed were shocked.

"Oh, my God … that makes me sick," wrote singer-songwriter Sheryl Crow on Twitter, posted with a link to the article. "And shame on those involved in the hiding."

Rock band R.E.M said in a statement on Twitter that fans were learning. "We are trying to get good information on what happened and its effect on the band's music, if any," the band tweeted.

Original sound recordings of some of the biggest names in popular music since the 1940s – from Louis Armstrong to Judy Garland to Tom Petty and 50 Cent – would have caught fire smoking what the article describes as "the biggest disaster in the history of the music industry. "

Master recordings are usually owned and controlled by the music labels of the artists in their catalog. But they are considered essential to the legacy of musicians because they are original recordings, unique in their kind, considered the most faithful representation of sounds captured in the studio.

Matrices are the source material for all reproductions, including re-releases and remixes, intended for distribution, on digital media or on vinyl.

Universal Music Group, which is now owned by French media conglomerate Vivendi, said the fire "has never affected the availability of commercially distributed music nor the artists' pay."

The New York Times article "ignores the tens of thousands of recordings in the catalog that we have already published in recent years, including high quality and high quality audiophile versions of many discs that the The story claims to have "destroyed", "Universal Music" has said.

Irving Azoff, head of the Steely Dan group, said in a statement that the musicians "have been aware of Steely Dan's" missing "original tapes for a long time now."

"We have never received a plausible explanation," Azoff said. "Maybe they burned in the big fire. In any case, it is certainly a lost treasure.

Krist Novoselic, a founding member of the Nirvana grunge group of the 1990s, responded to a fan on Twitter asking if the Times article was removing the masters of the group's flagship album, "Nevermind". He wrote: "I think they're gone forever."