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Universal Music Group, world leader in music suspected of deliberately hiding the scale of a fire that destroyed 500,000 original recordings in California, owes "transparency" to its artists on the subject, said his CEO in an internal memo.
A New York Times investigation recently revealed that several decades of "masters", original recordings used to make vinyls, CDs and other digital copies, went up in smoke on 1 June 2008 during a huge fire that ravaged 'Universal in Hollywood. Among these recordings were works, sometimes unique, of legendary stars like Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong, Bing Crosby, Ella Fitzgerald, Sonny and Cher, Joni Mitchell, Eric Clapton, Elton John, Janet Jackson, Nirvana or Tupac.
"I'll be clear: we owe transparency to our artists," wrote Lucian Grainge, CEO of Universal Music Group (UMG), in a memo published by the specialized letter Music Business Worldwide. "We owe them answers, I'm going to make sure that the top people in this company commit to it, starting with me," says Grainge, who headed the French group Vivendi three years later. the fire.
The New York Times revelations about the impact of the fire shook the music industry, especially the artists, some of whom accused UMG of minimizing the disaster to avoid accountability. Howard King, a Los Angeles-based entertainment lawyer, is in the process of editing cases on behalf of some artists and may file a complaint next week, AFP told his office.
According to Lucian Grainge, press reports about the consequences of the fire "have given rise to speculation, and it is completely unacceptable that our artists and writers do not know if these speculations are accurate". The CEO therefore calls for "redoubling efforts to preserve the rich cultural heritage upon which our industry is founded."
A Vivendi subsidiary headquartered in Santa Monica, near Los Angeles, California, Universal Music Group is considered one of the three music giants in the world, with Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group. But the market share held by UMG is almost twice as large as its challenger Sony, thanks to heavyweights such as Ariana Grande and Drake, as well as a colossal catalog of missing artists, such Frank Sinatra or Queen.
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