This article is from the source 'nytimes' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/25/magazine/universal-music-fire-bands-list-umg.html
The article has changed 4 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 2 | Version 3 |
|---|---|
| Here Are Hundreds More Artists Whose Tapes Were Destroyed in the UMG Fire | Here Are Hundreds More Artists Whose Tapes Were Destroyed in the UMG Fire |
| (21 days later) | |
| In 2013, Bryan Adams, the Canadian singer-songwriter, found himself facing a mystery. Twenty-nine years earlier, in 1984, Adams reached pop-rock superstardom with the release of his fourth LP, “Reckless,” which topped the Billboard 200 album chart and sold an estimated 12 million copies worldwide. Now, with the album’s 30th anniversary approaching, Adams was attempting to put together a commemorative reissue. He reached out to Universal Music Group (UMG), the world’s largest record company, which controls the catalog of dozens of subsidiaries, including A&M, the label that put out “Reckless” and eight other Adams studio albums. | In 2013, Bryan Adams, the Canadian singer-songwriter, found himself facing a mystery. Twenty-nine years earlier, in 1984, Adams reached pop-rock superstardom with the release of his fourth LP, “Reckless,” which topped the Billboard 200 album chart and sold an estimated 12 million copies worldwide. Now, with the album’s 30th anniversary approaching, Adams was attempting to put together a commemorative reissue. He reached out to Universal Music Group (UMG), the world’s largest record company, which controls the catalog of dozens of subsidiaries, including A&M, the label that put out “Reckless” and eight other Adams studio albums. |
| “I contacted the archive dept of Universal Music,” Adams told me in an email last week. Adams was seeking “the master mixes/artwork/photos/video/film . . . anything,” he wrote. Almost nothing could be turned up by the record company. Adams’s hunt for this material ranged far and wide. “I called everyone, former A&M employees, directors, producers, photographers, production houses, editors, even assistants of producers at the time,” Adams said. | “I contacted the archive dept of Universal Music,” Adams told me in an email last week. Adams was seeking “the master mixes/artwork/photos/video/film . . . anything,” he wrote. Almost nothing could be turned up by the record company. Adams’s hunt for this material ranged far and wide. “I called everyone, former A&M employees, directors, producers, photographers, production houses, editors, even assistants of producers at the time,” Adams said. |
| Eventually, Adams located a safety copy of the album’s “unmastered final assembly mix tape” in his own vault in Vancouver. But he remained baffled about the disappearance of so much material: “I can tell you with 100 percent certainty that I couldn’t find anything at Universal that had been published to do with my association with A&M records in the 1980s. If you were doing an archaeological dig there, you would have concluded that it was almost as if none of it had ever happened.” | Eventually, Adams located a safety copy of the album’s “unmastered final assembly mix tape” in his own vault in Vancouver. But he remained baffled about the disappearance of so much material: “I can tell you with 100 percent certainty that I couldn’t find anything at Universal that had been published to do with my association with A&M records in the 1980s. If you were doing an archaeological dig there, you would have concluded that it was almost as if none of it had ever happened.” |
| Two weeks ago, another explanation emerged, when Adams read “The Day the Music Burned,” a New York Times Magazine article detailing the destruction of recordings in a fire at a vault facility on the backlot of Universal Studios Hollywood, where UMG stored original masters and other recordings dating from the 1940s up to the 2000s. In legal documents and UMG reports that I obtained while researching the article, the record company asserted that more than 100,000 masters and “an estimated 500K song titles” had burned in the fire, including works by such towering figures as Billie Holiday, Chuck Berry and John Coltrane. The toll encompassed recordings made for several famous record labels: Decca, Chess, Impulse, ABC, MCA, Geffen, Interscope and Adams’ old label, A&M. A confidential document prepared by UMG officials for a 2009 “Vault Loss Meeting” offered a bleak assessment of the damage: “Lost in the fire was, undoubtedly, a huge musical heritage.” | Two weeks ago, another explanation emerged, when Adams read “The Day the Music Burned,” a New York Times Magazine article detailing the destruction of recordings in a fire at a vault facility on the backlot of Universal Studios Hollywood, where UMG stored original masters and other recordings dating from the 1940s up to the 2000s. In legal documents and UMG reports that I obtained while researching the article, the record company asserted that more than 100,000 masters and “an estimated 500K song titles” had burned in the fire, including works by such towering figures as Billie Holiday, Chuck Berry and John Coltrane. The toll encompassed recordings made for several famous record labels: Decca, Chess, Impulse, ABC, MCA, Geffen, Interscope and Adams’ old label, A&M. A confidential document prepared by UMG officials for a 2009 “Vault Loss Meeting” offered a bleak assessment of the damage: “Lost in the fire was, undoubtedly, a huge musical heritage.” |
| Today, The Times is offering a broader look at that heritage, publishing an expanded list of artists who were thought by UMG officials to have lost master recordings in the fire. The list adds 700-plus names to the more than 100 artists cited in “The Day the Music Burned.” | Today, The Times is offering a broader look at that heritage, publishing an expanded list of artists who were thought by UMG officials to have lost master recordings in the fire. The list adds 700-plus names to the more than 100 artists cited in “The Day the Music Burned.” |
| The names were gleaned from UMG’s own lists, assembled during the company’s “Project Phoenix” recovery effort, a global search for replacement copies and duplicates of destroyed masters. One of the artists on those lists is Bryan Adams, who said that he first learned about the fire when he read the Times Magazine piece. During his interactions with UMG staff in 2013, Adams said, “There was no mention that there had been a fire in the archive.” | The names were gleaned from UMG’s own lists, assembled during the company’s “Project Phoenix” recovery effort, a global search for replacement copies and duplicates of destroyed masters. One of the artists on those lists is Bryan Adams, who said that he first learned about the fire when he read the Times Magazine piece. During his interactions with UMG staff in 2013, Adams said, “There was no mention that there had been a fire in the archive.” |
| The list that appears at the end of this article provides a fuller sense of the historical scope of the 2008 disaster. The recording artists whose names The Times is publishing for the first time today represent an extraordinary cross-section of genres and periods: classic pop balladeers (Rosemary Clooney, Peggy Lee, Pat Boone), jazz greats (Sidney Bechet, Betty Carter, Roland Kirk), show business legends (Groucho Marx, Mae West, Bob Hope), gospel groups (the Dixie Hummingbirds, Five Blind Boys of Alabama, the Soul Stirrers), country icons (the Carter Family, Dolly Parton, Glen Campbell), illustrious songwriters (Hoagy Carmichael, Doc Pomus, Lamont Dozier), doo-wop and rhythm & blues favorites (Johnny Ace, the Moonglows, the Del-Vikings), ’50s and ’60s chart toppers (Ricky Nelson, Petula Clark, Brenda Lee), bluesmen (Slim Harpo, Elmore James, Otis Rush), world-music stars (Miriam Makeba, Hugh Masekela, Milton Nascimento), classic rockers (The Who, Joe Cocker, Three Dog Night), folkies and folk-rockers (Sandy Denny, Crosby & Nash, Buffy Sainte-Marie), singer-songwriters (Phil Ochs, Terry Callier, Joan Armatrading), ’70s best-sellers (Peter Frampton, Olivia Newton-John, Barry Gibb), soul and disco-era stalwarts (the Dramatics, the Pointer Sisters, George Benson), AM rock-radio staples (Styx, Boston, 38 Special), divas and divos (Cher, Tom Jones), British punks and new wavers (The Damned, Joe Jackson, Squeeze), MTV fixtures (Wang Chung, Patty Smyth, Extreme), hip-hop/R&B hitmakers (Bell Biv Devoe, Jodeci, Blackstreet), ’90s rock acts (Primus, Temple of the Dog, the Wallflowers), rappers (Heavy D. & the Boyz, Busta Rhymes, Common), comedians (Rodney Dangerfield, Bill Cosby, Chris Rock), even the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., whose album “Remaining Awake Through a Great Revolution,” a recording of a keynote address given at an A.M.E. church convention, was released in 1968 on Excello, a blues label whose masters were stored in the backlot vault. | |
| The UMG documents from which these names are drawn were organized according to a hierarchy, an effort to establish “priority assets”: those recordings that were to be a primary focus of the search for replacement copies. On one list, artists were assigned letter-grade rankings, with higher marks given to those deemed most important. Artists graded “A” include historic figures (Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Muddy Waters, Joni Mitchell) and best-selling acts of the 1980s, ’90s, and ’00s (Belinda Carlisle, Meat Loaf, Weezer, Limp Bizkit, Gwen Stefani, Blink 182). | The UMG documents from which these names are drawn were organized according to a hierarchy, an effort to establish “priority assets”: those recordings that were to be a primary focus of the search for replacement copies. On one list, artists were assigned letter-grade rankings, with higher marks given to those deemed most important. Artists graded “A” include historic figures (Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Muddy Waters, Joni Mitchell) and best-selling acts of the 1980s, ’90s, and ’00s (Belinda Carlisle, Meat Loaf, Weezer, Limp Bizkit, Gwen Stefani, Blink 182). |
| The letter-grade rankings provide a snapshot of UMG’s marketplace wisdom circa 2010 — judgments that, at times, favor top-sellers with thin discographies over historically significant figures and critically-lionized innovators. Captain and Tennille, Chuck Mangione, Whitesnake, Sublime, White Zombie, Nelly Furtado and the Pussycat Dolls received A ratings. Les Paul, Merle Haggard, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Alice Coltrane, Captain Beefheart, the Neville Brothers and the Roots were given Bs. | The letter-grade rankings provide a snapshot of UMG’s marketplace wisdom circa 2010 — judgments that, at times, favor top-sellers with thin discographies over historically significant figures and critically-lionized innovators. Captain and Tennille, Chuck Mangione, Whitesnake, Sublime, White Zombie, Nelly Furtado and the Pussycat Dolls received A ratings. Les Paul, Merle Haggard, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Alice Coltrane, Captain Beefheart, the Neville Brothers and the Roots were given Bs. |
| For the past two weeks, as news of the lost masters has reverberated through the music industry, UMG has been roundly criticized by artists and their representatives. On Friday, a lawsuit was filed in United States District Court in Los Angeles by five prominent musicians and estates: the rock bands Soundgarden and Hole, singer-songwriter Steve Earle, the estate of rapper Tupac Shakur, and Tom Petty’s former wife, who owns rights in some of Petty’s music. The suit, which seeks class-action status, accuses UMG of breaching its contracts with artists by failing to protect their recordings and by failing to share any income received in insurance payments and legal settlements from the fire. The plaintiffs are seeking “compensatory damages in an amount in excess of $100 million.” | For the past two weeks, as news of the lost masters has reverberated through the music industry, UMG has been roundly criticized by artists and their representatives. On Friday, a lawsuit was filed in United States District Court in Los Angeles by five prominent musicians and estates: the rock bands Soundgarden and Hole, singer-songwriter Steve Earle, the estate of rapper Tupac Shakur, and Tom Petty’s former wife, who owns rights in some of Petty’s music. The suit, which seeks class-action status, accuses UMG of breaching its contracts with artists by failing to protect their recordings and by failing to share any income received in insurance payments and legal settlements from the fire. The plaintiffs are seeking “compensatory damages in an amount in excess of $100 million.” |
| Universal declined to comment on the lawsuit on Friday. Earlier in the week, Arnaud de Puyfontaine, the chief executive and chairman of UMG’s corporate parent, the French media conglomerate Vivendi, waved aside concerns that revelations of the fire would impact Vivendi’s plans to sell up to 50 percent of the record company, whose value was recently estimated at $33 billion. De Puyfontaine told Variety that the controversy over the fire is “just noise.” | Universal declined to comment on the lawsuit on Friday. Earlier in the week, Arnaud de Puyfontaine, the chief executive and chairman of UMG’s corporate parent, the French media conglomerate Vivendi, waved aside concerns that revelations of the fire would impact Vivendi’s plans to sell up to 50 percent of the record company, whose value was recently estimated at $33 billion. De Puyfontaine told Variety that the controversy over the fire is “just noise.” |
| But that noise is growing louder. Last week, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, Hole’s lead singer, Courtney Love, spoke bitterly of UMG’s response to the fire. “No one knows for sure yet, specifically what is gone from their estate, their catalog,” she told me in an email. “But for once in a horrible way people believe me about the state of the music business which I would not wish on my worst enemy. Our culture has been devastated, meanwhile UMG is online with cookie recipes and pop, as if nothing happened. It’s so horrible.” | But that noise is growing louder. Last week, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, Hole’s lead singer, Courtney Love, spoke bitterly of UMG’s response to the fire. “No one knows for sure yet, specifically what is gone from their estate, their catalog,” she told me in an email. “But for once in a horrible way people believe me about the state of the music business which I would not wish on my worst enemy. Our culture has been devastated, meanwhile UMG is online with cookie recipes and pop, as if nothing happened. It’s so horrible.” |
| Many artists have commented on social media, expressing indignation in particular over UMG’s failure to inform them about the potential losses to their catalogs. On June 12, the day after the Times article was published online, the singer-songwriter Sheryl Crow tweeted: “shame on those involved in the coverup. Massive fire at UMG 11 years ago, and we’re just hearing about this now??” Geoffrey Downes, the keyboardist for the English prog-rock group Asia, also reacted on Twitter. “This might explain why nobody can find the original Asia album masters,” he wrote. “Very sad, and UMG have kept it quiet for more than 10 years.” Crow released eight studio albums for A&M; Asia recorded four for Geffen. Both received A ratings in UMG’s Project Phoenix documents. | Many artists have commented on social media, expressing indignation in particular over UMG’s failure to inform them about the potential losses to their catalogs. On June 12, the day after the Times article was published online, the singer-songwriter Sheryl Crow tweeted: “shame on those involved in the coverup. Massive fire at UMG 11 years ago, and we’re just hearing about this now??” Geoffrey Downes, the keyboardist for the English prog-rock group Asia, also reacted on Twitter. “This might explain why nobody can find the original Asia album masters,” he wrote. “Very sad, and UMG have kept it quiet for more than 10 years.” Crow released eight studio albums for A&M; Asia recorded four for Geffen. Both received A ratings in UMG’s Project Phoenix documents. |
| Other artists listed in the documents are offering accounts of interactions with UMG similar to those reported by Bryan Adams, in which the record company appears to have fallen short of complete candor. These incidents are reported by artists to have taken place after many of the executives who presided over UMG at the time of the fire had departed, and well into the tenure of the current CEO and chariman, Lucian Grainge. | Other artists listed in the documents are offering accounts of interactions with UMG similar to those reported by Bryan Adams, in which the record company appears to have fallen short of complete candor. These incidents are reported by artists to have taken place after many of the executives who presided over UMG at the time of the fire had departed, and well into the tenure of the current CEO and chariman, Lucian Grainge. |
| Early last year, the alternative rock group Semisonic was preparing a 20th-anniversary edition of its 1998 album “Feeling Strangely Fine.” According to drummer Jacob Slichter, the band was informed by UMG that masters of the album “couldn’t be located.” In an email to The Times, Semisonic’s manager, Jim Grant — whose office requested the masters from UMG — said that the record company “did not reference lost or damaged masters. . . . They did not mention anything about the fire.” Semisonic was included on one of the UMG documents listing artists whose masters were thought to have been destroyed in the fire. | Early last year, the alternative rock group Semisonic was preparing a 20th-anniversary edition of its 1998 album “Feeling Strangely Fine.” According to drummer Jacob Slichter, the band was informed by UMG that masters of the album “couldn’t be located.” In an email to The Times, Semisonic’s manager, Jim Grant — whose office requested the masters from UMG — said that the record company “did not reference lost or damaged masters. . . . They did not mention anything about the fire.” Semisonic was included on one of the UMG documents listing artists whose masters were thought to have been destroyed in the fire. |
| Another leading ’90s band that appears in the documents is Counting Crows, which recorded several albums for Geffen. In a 2016 interview in Diffuser, a music website, the lead singer, Adam Duritz, said that Geffen had “lost the master tapes” for “Recovering the Satellites,” the band’s platinum-selling 1996 release. “Geffen, because they’re a record company, it’s their sovereign right to lose everything,” he said. Duritz could not be reached for comment. It is unclear how he learned about the lost masters or if he was told that the tapes might have been lost in a fire. | Another leading ’90s band that appears in the documents is Counting Crows, which recorded several albums for Geffen. In a 2016 interview in Diffuser, a music website, the lead singer, Adam Duritz, said that Geffen had “lost the master tapes” for “Recovering the Satellites,” the band’s platinum-selling 1996 release. “Geffen, because they’re a record company, it’s their sovereign right to lose everything,” he said. Duritz could not be reached for comment. It is unclear how he learned about the lost masters or if he was told that the tapes might have been lost in a fire. |
| One of the only musicians who has said publicly that he was informed about the destruction of his masters is Richard Carpenter of the Carpenters, the star ’70s pop duo. But Carpenter says the admission — by a staff member at UMG’s catalog division, Universal Music Enterprises (UMe) — came only after multiple inquiries and because UMG was forced into it: Carpenter had booked time at a mastering studio to work on a reissue for the label, and the tapes he requested for the session hadn’t shown up. “They didn’t let me know,” he told me last week. “They really didn’t want to get me on the phone to give me this news.” In a deposition given in a negligence suit brought by UMG against NBCUniversal, its landlord at the backlot vault, a former executive for the record company testified that Carpenter’s persistence and “concern” about his masters in the aftermath of the fire had been a subject of consternation among UMG officials. | One of the only musicians who has said publicly that he was informed about the destruction of his masters is Richard Carpenter of the Carpenters, the star ’70s pop duo. But Carpenter says the admission — by a staff member at UMG’s catalog division, Universal Music Enterprises (UMe) — came only after multiple inquiries and because UMG was forced into it: Carpenter had booked time at a mastering studio to work on a reissue for the label, and the tapes he requested for the session hadn’t shown up. “They didn’t let me know,” he told me last week. “They really didn’t want to get me on the phone to give me this news.” In a deposition given in a negligence suit brought by UMG against NBCUniversal, its landlord at the backlot vault, a former executive for the record company testified that Carpenter’s persistence and “concern” about his masters in the aftermath of the fire had been a subject of consternation among UMG officials. |
| Asked last week if there had been any systematic effort to inform artists of losses in the 2008 calamity, a UMG spokesperson said that the company “doesn’t publicly discuss our private conversations with artists and estates.” Its apparent success in keeping news of the fire from recording artists may in part be ascribed to the long history of anarchic archival practices in the music business: Musicians have come to expect that labels may not be able to find their masters, which in most cases are owned outright by the labels. | Asked last week if there had been any systematic effort to inform artists of losses in the 2008 calamity, a UMG spokesperson said that the company “doesn’t publicly discuss our private conversations with artists and estates.” Its apparent success in keeping news of the fire from recording artists may in part be ascribed to the long history of anarchic archival practices in the music business: Musicians have come to expect that labels may not be able to find their masters, which in most cases are owned outright by the labels. |
| But novel arguments regarding masters and the intellectual property they contain may soon be advanced in cases against UMG. The suit filed Friday is not the only one that UMG is facing. In February, a separate class action was filed against UMG concerning Section 203 of the 1976 Copyright Act, which gives artists a chance to reclaim some rights to their sound recordings after a period of 35 years by serving Notices of Termination to record companies. The plaintiffs in Waite vs. UMG Recordings Inc. include, among others, singer John Waite, members of the California punk-rock band the Dickies and country-rock veteran Joe Ely. (Ely, who released eight albums on MCA between the 1970s and 1990s, appears in UMG’s documentation of losses in the fire.) | But novel arguments regarding masters and the intellectual property they contain may soon be advanced in cases against UMG. The suit filed Friday is not the only one that UMG is facing. In February, a separate class action was filed against UMG concerning Section 203 of the 1976 Copyright Act, which gives artists a chance to reclaim some rights to their sound recordings after a period of 35 years by serving Notices of Termination to record companies. The plaintiffs in Waite vs. UMG Recordings Inc. include, among others, singer John Waite, members of the California punk-rock band the Dickies and country-rock veteran Joe Ely. (Ely, who released eight albums on MCA between the 1970s and 1990s, appears in UMG’s documentation of losses in the fire.) |
| The plaintiffs’ lawyers, Evan Cohen and Maryann Marzano, now say that they view any losses suffered by artists in the fire “as a natural component of our claims.” “The destruction of the master recordings caused by the 2008 fire, and UMG’s subsequent failure to notify recording artists that their works were tragically lost, further underscores how little regard UMG has for the rights and property of musicians,” they said in a statement provided to The Times. | The plaintiffs’ lawyers, Evan Cohen and Maryann Marzano, now say that they view any losses suffered by artists in the fire “as a natural component of our claims.” “The destruction of the master recordings caused by the 2008 fire, and UMG’s subsequent failure to notify recording artists that their works were tragically lost, further underscores how little regard UMG has for the rights and property of musicians,” they said in a statement provided to The Times. |
| Since publication of “The Day the Music Burned,” UMG has been working to reassure artists and the public that losses in the fire were not as substantial as reported. In an interview published last Monday on Billboard’s website, Patrick Kraus, UMG’s senior vice president of recording studios and archive management, asserted that “many of the masters highlighted as destroyed, we actually have in our archives,” citing material by John Coltrane, Muddy Waters and the jazz pianist Ahmad Jamal. The article includes photographs, provided by UMG, which appear to show boxes for a Coltrane master tape, the mono master of a Howlin’ Wolf album, a multitrack master by saxophonist Pharaoh Sanders and another master, possibly a multitrack, by the Five Blind Boys of Alabama. | Since publication of “The Day the Music Burned,” UMG has been working to reassure artists and the public that losses in the fire were not as substantial as reported. In an interview published last Monday on Billboard’s website, Patrick Kraus, UMG’s senior vice president of recording studios and archive management, asserted that “many of the masters highlighted as destroyed, we actually have in our archives,” citing material by John Coltrane, Muddy Waters and the jazz pianist Ahmad Jamal. The article includes photographs, provided by UMG, which appear to show boxes for a Coltrane master tape, the mono master of a Howlin’ Wolf album, a multitrack master by saxophonist Pharaoh Sanders and another master, possibly a multitrack, by the Five Blind Boys of Alabama. |
| But the broad assurances and scant specifics offered in recent days by Kraus and UMG spokespeople carry echoes of the company’s statements in the days after the 2008 fire, when officials characterized the label’s loss as negligible. It is true that some items thought to have been destroyed in the fire may in fact be safe, for any number of reasons. The item in the vault may not have been the original primary source master. The tape may have been elsewhere when the fire hit, perhaps in a studio for a reissue project. In many cases, UMG’s post-fire recovery effort may have located a backup copy of high-enough quality to muddy the question of whether the company has “a master” of the recording. | But the broad assurances and scant specifics offered in recent days by Kraus and UMG spokespeople carry echoes of the company’s statements in the days after the 2008 fire, when officials characterized the label’s loss as negligible. It is true that some items thought to have been destroyed in the fire may in fact be safe, for any number of reasons. The item in the vault may not have been the original primary source master. The tape may have been elsewhere when the fire hit, perhaps in a studio for a reissue project. In many cases, UMG’s post-fire recovery effort may have located a backup copy of high-enough quality to muddy the question of whether the company has “a master” of the recording. |
| But individuals familiar with the contents of the doomed vault, including Randy Aronson, UMG’s senior director of vault operations at the time of the fire, state unequivocally that vast numbers of the masters in the archive were irreplaceable primary-source originals. The voluminous archives of Decca and Chess — the oldest and most historically significant labels in the vault, holding between them a staggering canon of American pop, jazz, blues and rock ‘n’ roll classics — comprised many tens of thousands of tapes, nearly all original masters. | But individuals familiar with the contents of the doomed vault, including Randy Aronson, UMG’s senior director of vault operations at the time of the fire, state unequivocally that vast numbers of the masters in the archive were irreplaceable primary-source originals. The voluminous archives of Decca and Chess — the oldest and most historically significant labels in the vault, holding between them a staggering canon of American pop, jazz, blues and rock ‘n’ roll classics — comprised many tens of thousands of tapes, nearly all original masters. |
| According to Aronson and others, one reason UMG maintained the archive on the backlot in the first place was to keep original masters in Los Angeles, where they could be easily and affordably accessed by the company for reissues and compilations. “It just made sense to keep those tapes in L.A.,” says Mike Ragogna, a former senior director of catalog A&R at Universal Music Enterprises. “We would pull tapes three, four, multiple times for different projects.” Ragogna, who worked on hundreds of reissues for UMe before leaving the company in 2006, says that in 2008, when he saw the news about the fire, he thought immediately of certain precious masters that he suspected had been destroyed: “I was worried about the Neil Diamond tapes, the Joni Mitchell.” | According to Aronson and others, one reason UMG maintained the archive on the backlot in the first place was to keep original masters in Los Angeles, where they could be easily and affordably accessed by the company for reissues and compilations. “It just made sense to keep those tapes in L.A.,” says Mike Ragogna, a former senior director of catalog A&R at Universal Music Enterprises. “We would pull tapes three, four, multiple times for different projects.” Ragogna, who worked on hundreds of reissues for UMe before leaving the company in 2006, says that in 2008, when he saw the news about the fire, he thought immediately of certain precious masters that he suspected had been destroyed: “I was worried about the Neil Diamond tapes, the Joni Mitchell.” |
| The same characterization of the vault and its contents is found in the record company’s own internal files and in testimony given in legal proceedings after the fire. UMG’s recent statements downplaying the fire’s toll contradict its own copiously documented, multimillion-dollar effort to recover items it believed were lost. These same losses were part of the basis of UMG’s insurance claims in the aftermath of the fire, and of its negligence suit against NBCUniversal. They are the losses about which UMG officials, including some still employed by the company today, testified in sworn depositions. | The same characterization of the vault and its contents is found in the record company’s own internal files and in testimony given in legal proceedings after the fire. UMG’s recent statements downplaying the fire’s toll contradict its own copiously documented, multimillion-dollar effort to recover items it believed were lost. These same losses were part of the basis of UMG’s insurance claims in the aftermath of the fire, and of its negligence suit against NBCUniversal. They are the losses about which UMG officials, including some still employed by the company today, testified in sworn depositions. |
| Last Tuesday, various news outlets published a memo sent by Lucian Grainge, UMG’s chief executive, to the company’s staff. “We owe our artists transparency,” Grainge wrote. “We owe them answers.” Artists are seeking those answers. The lawyer Howard King — managing partner of King, Holmes, Paterno & Soriano, one of the firms that filed the lawsuit on Friday — has requested that UMG “promptly furnish us with a complete inventory of all master recordings” on behalf of a number of artists, including Hole, Soundgarden, No Doubt, Joe Walsh and Buddy Guy and the estates of Bo Diddley, John Lee Hooker and Tupac Shakur. | Last Tuesday, various news outlets published a memo sent by Lucian Grainge, UMG’s chief executive, to the company’s staff. “We owe our artists transparency,” Grainge wrote. “We owe them answers.” Artists are seeking those answers. The lawyer Howard King — managing partner of King, Holmes, Paterno & Soriano, one of the firms that filed the lawsuit on Friday — has requested that UMG “promptly furnish us with a complete inventory of all master recordings” on behalf of a number of artists, including Hole, Soundgarden, No Doubt, Joe Walsh and Buddy Guy and the estates of Bo Diddley, John Lee Hooker and Tupac Shakur. |
| But answers and inventories may be difficult to obtain. Aronson says that it was clear in the immediate aftermath of the fire that the company would never have a complete accounting of what was lost. Decades of slapdash inventory practices — the company’s failure to invest in complete records of its holdings — had resulted in an insoluble discographical puzzle. UMG knew what labels’ masters had been stored in the vault; they know, broadly, which artists’ recordings had been on the shelves. But the knowledge got fuzzier when it came down to individual albums or songs, especially given the presence in the vault of an indeterminate number of masters containing outtakes, demos and other recordings that were never commercially released. | But answers and inventories may be difficult to obtain. Aronson says that it was clear in the immediate aftermath of the fire that the company would never have a complete accounting of what was lost. Decades of slapdash inventory practices — the company’s failure to invest in complete records of its holdings — had resulted in an insoluble discographical puzzle. UMG knew what labels’ masters had been stored in the vault; they know, broadly, which artists’ recordings had been on the shelves. But the knowledge got fuzzier when it came down to individual albums or songs, especially given the presence in the vault of an indeterminate number of masters containing outtakes, demos and other recordings that were never commercially released. |
| UMG’s own lists present riddles. Documents show that the company believed it had lost recordings by one of music’s most zealous audiophiles, Neil Young — whose website offers high-resolution versions of his complete discography, presumably sourced from the original masters. It is unclear if the Young recordings thought by UMG to have been destroyed were safety copies of the four albums he recorded for Geffen in the 1980s or outtakes from the sessions for those albums, or if UMG officials were simply mistaken about Young having had material in the backlot vault. | UMG’s own lists present riddles. Documents show that the company believed it had lost recordings by one of music’s most zealous audiophiles, Neil Young — whose website offers high-resolution versions of his complete discography, presumably sourced from the original masters. It is unclear if the Young recordings thought by UMG to have been destroyed were safety copies of the four albums he recorded for Geffen in the 1980s or outtakes from the sessions for those albums, or if UMG officials were simply mistaken about Young having had material in the backlot vault. |
| The Project Phoenix recovery program lasted two years and, by Aronson’s estimate, gathered duplicates of perhaps a fifth of the recordings lost in the fire. The choice to end these efforts may have been a cost-benefit decision; or UMG may have determined that, for the majority of the destroyed masters, duplicates could never be found. Now, in any case, the company is mobilizing another campaign to comb its global vaults. Billboard reported that Kraus, the head UMG archivist, “sent members of his team into the 10 vaults the company keeps around the world to verify the location and condition of its more than 3.5 million assets.” It seems that a second Project Phoenixlike effort is underway — this time, under pressure from both artists and the public. | The Project Phoenix recovery program lasted two years and, by Aronson’s estimate, gathered duplicates of perhaps a fifth of the recordings lost in the fire. The choice to end these efforts may have been a cost-benefit decision; or UMG may have determined that, for the majority of the destroyed masters, duplicates could never be found. Now, in any case, the company is mobilizing another campaign to comb its global vaults. Billboard reported that Kraus, the head UMG archivist, “sent members of his team into the 10 vaults the company keeps around the world to verify the location and condition of its more than 3.5 million assets.” It seems that a second Project Phoenixlike effort is underway — this time, under pressure from both artists and the public. |
| The list below represents many — but not all — of the acts believed by UMG officials to have lost master recordings in the fire. It is a partial selection, culled from three separate UMG lists prepared for Project Phoenix in late 2009 and early 2010, more than a year and a half after the fire struck. These UMG lists were part of the company’s effort to compile what was referred to internally as “the God List,” a total tally of the material lost in the fire. The lists appear in company emails and other documents, a paper trail that emerged in later litigation. In one court filing in the NBCUniversal suit, UMG’s lawyers characterized the lists as the result of “a resource-intensive project to identify with reasonable certainty the Destroyed Tapes.” | The list below represents many — but not all — of the acts believed by UMG officials to have lost master recordings in the fire. It is a partial selection, culled from three separate UMG lists prepared for Project Phoenix in late 2009 and early 2010, more than a year and a half after the fire struck. These UMG lists were part of the company’s effort to compile what was referred to internally as “the God List,” a total tally of the material lost in the fire. The lists appear in company emails and other documents, a paper trail that emerged in later litigation. In one court filing in the NBCUniversal suit, UMG’s lawyers characterized the lists as the result of “a resource-intensive project to identify with reasonable certainty the Destroyed Tapes.” |
| Nevertheless, the names listed below come with several caveats. For the artists named below, it is not possible to assert definitively which masters were burned in the fire, nor can it be said categorically that all of these artists did in fact lose masters. It also cannot be determined exactly how many of the destroyed masters were primary-source originals. | Nevertheless, the names listed below come with several caveats. For the artists named below, it is not possible to assert definitively which masters were burned in the fire, nor can it be said categorically that all of these artists did in fact lose masters. It also cannot be determined exactly how many of the destroyed masters were primary-source originals. |
| What can be said with certainty is that these are artists whose material UMG believed had been lost in the fire and whose recordings the company spent tens of millions of dollars trying to replace. | What can be said with certainty is that these are artists whose material UMG believed had been lost in the fire and whose recordings the company spent tens of millions of dollars trying to replace. |
| 38 Special50 CentColonel AbramsJohnny AceBryan AdamsNat AdderleyAerosmithRhett AkinsManny AlbamLorez AlexandriaGary AllanRed AllenSteve AllenThe Ames BrothersGene AmmonsBill AndersonJimmy AndersonJohn AndersonThe Andrews SistersLee Andrews & the HeartsPaul AnkaAdam AntToni ArdenJoan ArmatradingLouis ArmstrongAsiaAsleep at the WheelAudioslavePatti AustinAverage White BandHoyt AxtonAlbert AylerBurt BacharachJoan BaezRazzy BaileyChet BakerFlorence BallardHank BallardGato BarbieriBaja Marimba BandLen BarryCount BasieFontella BassThe Beat FarmersSidney Bechet and His OrchestraBeckCaptain BeefheartArchie Bell & the DrellsVincent BellBell Biv DevoeLouie BellsonDon BennettJoe Bennett and the SparkletonesDavid BenoitGeorge BensonBerlinElmer Bernstein and His OrchestraChuck BerryNuno BettencourtStephen BishopBlackstreetArt BlakeyHal BlaineBobby (Blue) BlandMary J. BligeBlink 182Blues TravelerEddie BoPat BooneBostonConnee BoswellEddie BoydJan BradleyOwen Bradley QuintetOscar BrandBob BraunWalter BrennanJackie Brenston and His Delta CatsTeresa BrewerEdie Brickell & New BohemiansJohn BrimLonnie BrooksBig Bill Broonzy and Washboard SamBrothers JohnsonBobby BrownClarence “Gatemouth” BrownLawrence BrownLes BrownMarion BrownMarshall BrownMel BrownMichael BrownDave BrubeckJimmy BuffettCarol BurnettT-Bone BurnettDorsey BurnetteJohnny BurnetteBusta RhymesTerry CallierCab CallowayThe CallGlen CampbellCaptain and TennilleCaptain SensibleIrene CaraBelinda CarlisleCarl CarltonEric CarmenHoagy CarmichaelKim CarnesKaren CarpenterRichard CarpenterThe CarpentersBarbara CarrBetty CarterBenny CarterThe Carter FamilyPeter CaseAlvin CashMama CassBobby CharlesRay CharlesChubby CheckerThe Checkmates Ltd.Cheech & ChongCherDon CherryMark ChesnuttThe Chi-LitesEric ClaptonPetula ClarkRoy ClarkGene ClarkThe Clark SistersMerry ClaytonJimmy CliffPatsy ClineRosemary ClooneyWayne CochranJoe CockerOrnette ColemanGloria ColemanMitty CollierJazzbo CollinsJudy CollinsColosseumAlice ColtraneJohn ColtraneColoursCommonCookie and the CupcakesBarbara CookRita CoolidgeStewart CopelandThe CorsairsDave “Baby” CortezBill CosbyDon CostaClifford CoulterDavid CrosbyCrosby & NashJohnny Cougar (aka John Cougar Mellencamp)Counting CrowsCoverdale•PageWarren CovingtonDeborah CoxJames “Sugar Boy” CrawfordCrazy OttoMarshall CrenshawThe Crew-CutsSonny CrissDavid CrosbyBob CrosbyBing CrosbySheryl CrowRodney CrowellThe CrusadersXavier CugatThe Cuff LinksTim CurryThe DamnedDanny & the JuniorsRodney DangerfieldBobby DarinHelen DarlingDavid + DavidMac DavisRichard DavisSammy Davis Jr.Chris de BurghLenny DeeJack DeJohnetteThe DellsThe Dell-VikingsSandy DennySugar Pie DeSantoThe Desert Rose BandDennis DeYoungNeil DiamondBo DiddleyDifford & TilbrookDillard & ClarkThe Dixie HummingbirdsWillie DixonDJ ShadowFats DominoJimmy DonleyKenny DorhamJimmy Dorsey and His OrchestraLee DorseyThe Tommy Dorsey OrchestraLamont DozierThe DramaticsThe Dream SyndicateRoy DruskyJimmy DuranteDeanna DurbinThe EaglesSteve EarleEl ChicanoDanny ElfmanYvonne EllimanDuke EllingtonCass ElliottJoe ElyJohn EntwistleEminemEric B. and RakimGil EvansPaul EvansBetty EverettDon EverlyExtremeThe FalconsHarold FaltermeyerDonna FargoArt FarmerFreddie FenderFerrante & TeicherFever TreeThe Fifth DimensionElla FitzgeraldFive Blind Boys Of AlabamaThe FixxThe FlamingosKing FloydThe Flying Burrito BrothersJohn FogertyRed FoleyEddie FontaineThe Four AcesThe Four TopsPeter FramptonFranke & the KnockoutsAretha FranklinThe Rev. C.L. FranklinThe Free MovementGlenn FreyLefty FrizzellCurtis FullerJerry FullerLowell FulsonHarvey FuquaNelly FurtadoHank GarlandJudy GarlandErroll GarnerJimmy GarrisonLarry Gatlin & the Gatlin BrothersGene Loves JezebelBarry GibbGeorgia GibbsTerri GibbsDizzy GillespieGin BlossomsTompall GlaserTom GlazerWhoopi GoldbergGolden EarringPaul GonsalvesBenny GoodmanDexter GordonRosco GordonLesley GoreThe GospelairesTeddy GraceGrand Funk RailroadAmy GrantEarl GrantThe Grass RootsDobie GrayBuddy GrecoKeith GreenAl GreenJack GreeneRobert GreenidgeLee GreenwoodPatty GriffinNanci GriffithDave GrusinGuns N’ RosesBuddy GuyBuddy HackettCharlie HadenMerle HaggardBill Haley and His CometsAaron HallLani HallChico HamiltonGeorge Hamilton IVHamilton, Joe Frank & ReynoldsMarvin HamlischJan HammerLionel HamptonJohn HandyGlass HarpSlim HarpoRichard HarrisFreddie HartsDan HartmanJohnny HartmanColeman HawkinsDale HawkinsRichie HavensRoy HaynesHead EastHeavy D. & the BoyzBobby HelmsDon HenleyClarence “Frogman” HenryWoody Herman and His OrchestraMilt Herth and His TrioJohn HiattAl HibblerDan Hicks and the Hot LicksMonk HigginsJessie HillEarl HinesRoger HodgsonHoleBillie HolidayJennifer HollidayBuddy HollyThe Hollywood FlamesEddie HolmanJohn Lee HookerStix HooperBob HopePaul HornShirley HornBig Walter HortonThelma HoustonRebecca Lynn HowardJan HowardFreddie HubbardHumble PieEngelbert HumperdinckBrian HylandThe ImpressionsThe Ink SpotsIron ButterflyBurl IvesJanet JacksonJoe JacksonMilt JacksonAhmad JamalEtta JamesElmore JamesJames GangKeith JarrettJason & the ScorchersJawbreakerGarland JeffreysBeverly JenkinsGordon JenkinsThe JetsJimmy Eat WorldJodeciJohnnie JoeThe Joe Perry ProjectElton JohnJ.J. JohnsonK-Ci & JoJoAl JolsonBooker T. JonesElvin JonesGeorge JonesHank JonesJack JonesMarti JonesQuincy JonesRickie Lee JonesTamiko JonesTom JonesLouis Jordan and His Tympany FiveThe JordanairesJurassic 5Bert KaempfertKitty Kallen & Georgie ShawThe Kalin TwinsBob KamesKansasBoris KarloffSammy KayeToby KeithGene KellyChaka KhanB.B. KingThe Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.Wayne KingThe KingsmenThe Kingston TrioRoland KirkEartha KittJohn KlemmerKlymaxxBaker KnightChris KnightGladys Knight and the PipsKrokusSteve KuhnRolf KuhnJoachim KuhnPatti LaBelleL.A. Dream TeamFrankie LaineLambert, Hendricks & Ross Denise LaSalleYusef LateefSteve LawrenceSteve Lawrence & Eydie GorméLafayette LeakeBrenda LeeLaura LeeLeapy LeePeggy LeeDanni LeighThe Lennon SistersJ.B. LenoirRamsey LewisJerry Lee LewisJerry LewisMeade Lux LewisLiberaceLifehouseEnoch LightThe Lightning SeedsLimp BizkitLisa LoebLittle Axe and the Golden EchoesLittle MiltonLittle River BandLittle WalterLoboNils LofgrenLone JusticeGuy LombardoLord TracyThe Louvin BrothersLovePatti LovelessThe LovelitesLyle LovettLove UnlimitedLoretta LynnL.T.D.Lynyrd SkynyrdGloria LynneMoms MableyWillie MabonWarner MackDave MacKay & Vicky HamiltonMiriam MakebaThe Mamas and the PapasMelissa ManchesterBarbara MandrellChuck MangioneShelly ManneWade MarcusMark-AlmondPigmeat MarkhamSteve MarriottWink MartindaleGroucho MarxHugh MasekelaDave MasonJerry MasonMatthews Southern ComfortThe MavericksRobert MaxwellJohn MayallPercy MayfieldLyle MaysLes McCannDelbert McClintonRobert Lee McCollumMarilyn McCoo & Billy Davis Jr.Van McCoyJimmy McCracklinJack McDuffReba McEntireGary McFarlandBarry McGuireThe McGuire SistersDuff McKaganMaria McKeeMcKendree SpringMarian McPartlandClyde McPhatterCarmen McRaeJack McVeaMeat LoafMemphis SlimSergio MendesEthel MermanPat MethenyMighty Clouds of JoyRoger MillerStephanie MillsThe Mills BrothersLiza MinnelliCharles MingusJoni MitchellBill MonroeVaughn MonroeWes MontgomeryBuddy MontgomeryThe Moody BluesThe MoonglowsJane MorganRuss MorganEnnio MorriconeMos DefMartin MullGerry MulliganMilton NascimentoJohnny NashNazarethNelsonRick Nelson & the Stone Canyon BandRicky NelsonJimmy NelsonOliver NelsonAaron NevilleArt NevilleThe Neville BrothersNew EditionNew Riders of the Purple SageOlivia Newton-JohnNight RangerLeonard NimoyNine Inch NailsNirvanaThe Nitty Gritty Dirt BandNo DoubtKen NordineRed Norvo SextetTerri NunnThe Oak Ridge BoysRic OcasekPhil OchsHazel O’ConnorChico O’FarrillOingo BoingoThe O’JaysSpooner OldhamOne Flew SouthYoko OnoOrleansJeffrey OsborneThe OutfieldPablo CruiseJackie ParisLeo ParkerJunior ParkerRay Parker Jr.Dolly PartonLes PaulFreda PaynePeaches & HerbCe Ce PenistonThe Peppermint RainbowPepplesThe PersuasionsBernadette PetersTom Petty and the HeartbreakersJohn PhillipsWebb PierceThe PinetoppersBill PlummerPocoThe Pointer SistersThe PoliceDoc PomusJimmy PonderIggy PopBilly PrestonLloyd PriceLouis PrimaPrimusPuddle Of MuddRed PrysockLeroy PullinsThe Pussycat DollsQuarterflashQueen LatifahSun RaThe RadiantsGerry RaffertyKenny RankinThe Ray Charles SingersThe Ray-O-VacsThe RaysDewey RedmanDella ReeseMartha ReevesR.E.M.Debbie ReynoldsEmitt RhodesBuddy RichEmil RichardsDannie RichmondRiders in the SkyStan RidgwayFrazier RiverSam RiversMax RoachMarty RobertsHoward RobertsThe RochesChris RockTommy RoeJimmy RogersSonny RollinsThe RootsRose RoyceJackie RossDoctor RossRotary ConnectionThe Rover BoysRoswell RuddRufus and Chaka KhanOtis RushBrenda RussellLeon RussellPee Wee RussellRussian Jazz QuartetMitch RyderBuffy Sainte-MarieJoe SamplePharoah SandersThe SandpipersGary SarachoShirley ScottTom ScottDawn SearsNeil SedakaJeannie SeelySemisonicCharlie SextonMarlena ShawTupac ShakurArchie SheppDinah ShoreBen SidranSilver ApplesShel SilversteinThe Simon SistersAshlee SimpsonThe SimpsonsZoot SimsP.F. SloanSmash MouthKate SmithKeely SmithTab SmithPatty SmythSnoop DoggValaida SnowJill SobuleSoft MachineSonic YouthSonny and CherThe Soul StirrersSoundgardenEddie SouthSouthern Culture on the SkidsSpinal TapBanana SplitsThe SpokesmenSqueezeJo StaffordChris StameyJoe StampleyMichael StanleyKay StarrStealers WheelSteely DanGwen StefaniSteppenwolfCat StevensBilly StewartStingSonny StittShane StocktonGeorge StraitThe Strawberry Alarm ClockStrawbsStyxSublimeYma SumacAndy SummersThe SundownersSupertrampThe SurfarisSylvia SymsGábor SzabóThe TamsGrady Tatet.A.T.u.Koko TaylorBilly TaylorCharlie TeagardenTemple of the DogClark TerryTeslaSister Rosetta TharpeRobin ThickeToots ThielemansB.J. ThomasIrma ThomasRufus ThomasHank ThompsonLucky ThompsonBig Mama ThorntonThree Dog NightThe Three StoogesTiffanyMel TillisTommy & the Tom TomsMel TorméThe Tragically HipThe Trapp Family SingersRalph TresvantErnest TubbThe TubesTanya TuckerTommy TuckerThe Tune WeaversIke TurnerStanley TurrentineConway TwittyMcCoy TynerPhil UpchurchMichael UtleyLeroy Van DykeGino VannelliVan ZantBilly VaughanSuzanne VegaVega BrothersVeruca SaltThe VibrationsBobby VintonVoïvodPorter WagonerThe WaikikisRufus WainwrightRick WakemanJerry Jeff WalkerThe WallflowersJoe WalshWang ChungClara WardWarrior SoulWashboard SamWas (Not Was)WarJustine WashingtonThe WatchmenMuddy WatersJody WatleyJohnny “Guitar” WatsonThe WeaversThe Dream WeaversBen WebsterWeezerWe FiveGeorge WeinLenny WelchLawrence WelkKitty WellsMae WestBarry WhiteMichael WhiteSlappy WhiteWhitesnakeWhite ZombieThe WhoWhycliffeKim WildeDon WilliamsJody WilliamsJohn WilliamsLarry WilliamsLenny WilliamsLeona WilliamsPaul WilliamsRoger WilliamsSonny Boy WilliamsonWalter WinchellKai WindingJohnny WinterWishbone AshJimmy WitherspoonHowlin’ WolfBobby WomackLee Ann WomackPhil WoodsWrecks-N-EffectO.V. WrightBill WymanRusty YorkFaron YoungNeil YoungYoung Black TeenagersY & T Rob Zombie |