Universal Studios vault fire destroys UMG master tapes (Trent has his own)

[chuckrh]

some bad news if you read deep:

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/11/m...ecordings.html

[ninjaw]

some bad news if you read deep:

Could you summarize what is the bad news ?

[Callahan]

Could you summarize what is the bad news ?

article snippet

The list of destroyed single and album masters takes in titles by dozens of legendary artists, a genre-spanning who’s who of 20th- and 21st-century popular music. It includes recordings by Benny Goodman, Cab Calloway, the Andrews Sisters, the Ink Spots, the Mills Brothers, Lionel Hampton, Ray Charles, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Clara Ward, Sammy Davis Jr., Les Paul, Fats Domino, Big Mama Thornton, Burl Ives, the Weavers, Kitty Wells, Ernest Tubb, Lefty Frizzell, Loretta Lynn, George Jones, Merle Haggard, Bobby (Blue) Bland, B.B. King, Ike Turner, the Four Tops, Quincy Jones, Burt Bacharach, Joan Baez, Neil Diamond, Sonny and Cher, the Mamas and the Papas, Joni Mitchell, Captain Beefheart, Cat Stevens, the Carpenters, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Al Green, the Flying Burrito Brothers, Elton John, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Buffett, the Eagles, Don Henley, Aerosmith, Steely Dan, Iggy Pop, Rufus and Chaka Khan, Barry White, Patti LaBelle, Yoko Ono, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, the Police, Sting, George Strait, Steve Earle, R.E.M., Janet Jackson, Eric B. and Rakim, New Edition, Bobby Brown, Guns N’ Roses, Queen Latifah, Mary J. Blige, Sonic Youth, No Doubt, Nine Inch Nails, Snoop Dogg, Nirvana, Soundgarden, Hole, Beck, Sheryl Crow, Tupac Shakur, Eminem, 50 Cent and the Roots.

TLDR: huge warehouse fire, resulting in a shitload of master tapes being destroyed.

I haven't read through the full article yet, but I'm curious to know if the artists can take legal action? Or is it a case of the record labels owning the rights, and it's their lose, not the artist?

[ninlive]

As an amateur archivist, I am just shocked that they preserved the masters so shitty. I would definitely have them in a fireproof room/vault. Just kills me to hear that.

Reading the article, the scrapped Elvis master tapes for the scrap metal. Jeebus chwist..... Now they are finally realizing that you should preserve this history.

[ninjaw]

Totally unrelated but they lost the tapes on the moon too

[cdm]

...I'm curious to know if the artists can take legal action? Or is it a case of the record labels owning the rights, and it's their lose, not the artist?

According to the article it varies:

Back in 2008, UMG undoubtedly feared the public embarrassment that news of the losses could bring. But Aronson and others suggest that UMG was especially concerned about repercussions with the artists, and the estates of artists, whose recordings were destroyed.

Record contracts are notoriously slanted in the favor of labels, which benefit disproportionately from sales and, in most cases, hold ownership of masters. For decades, standard artists’ contracts stipulated that recordings were “work for hire,” with record companies retaining control of masters in perpetuity. It is a paradox of the record business: Labels have often been cavalier about physically safeguarding masters, but they are zealous guardians of their ownership and intellectual-property rights.

Certain musicians, usually big stars, negotiate ownership of masters. (“If you don’t own your masters, your master owns you,” quipped Prince in 1996, at the height of a high-profile standoff with Warner Brothers.) It is unclear how many of the artists whose work was lost in the Universal vault had ownership of their physical masters, or were seeking it. But by definition, artists have a stake in the intellectual property contained on those masters, and many artists surely expected UMG to safeguard the material for potential later use. Had word of the fire’s toll emerged, many of the biggest names in pop music, and many profitable artist estates, would have learned that UMG had lost core documents their catalogs rest on — a source for everything from potentially lucrative reissues to historical preservation to posthumous releases. That scenario could have exposed UMG to a storm of questions, threats and reputational damage from across the industry.

But in the decade since the fire, UMG has faced little apparent blowback from artists or their representatives. It is probable that musicians whose masters were destroyed have no idea that a vault holding UMG masters had burned down. (A UMG spokesperson, asked if there has been any systematic effort to inform artists of the losses, said the company “doesn’t publicly discuss our private conversations with artists and estates.”)

[Callahan]

As an amateur archivist, I am just shocked that they preserved the masters so shitty. I would definitely have them in a fireproof room/vault. Just kills me to hear that.

Reading the article, the scrapped Elvis master tapes for the scrap metal. Jeebus chwist..... Now they are finally realizing that you should preserve this history.

Just in time to make sure all the Taylor Swift and Justin Bieber masters are preserved!

According to the article it varies:

I'd love to be a fly on the wall for those conversations with the artists. I wonder if this article will bring more awareness to the artists that had no idea their masters are gone.

[cdm]

I wonder if this article will bring more awareness to the artists that had no idea their masters are gone.

I suppose it's possible, especially if you haven't reissued anything within the last 10-12 years.

But that got me thinking: TDS was just remastered for 2016...what was the source? The article doesn't mention exactly what of NIN was lost but it does explicitly mention Interscope as one of the labels housed in the vault so I assumed that the TDS masters would be included in there. Same with The Fragile, etc. It'd be fascinating to see what TR has to say about this. I wonder if they recorded two masters and kept one [internally] vaulted just in case.

[Shadaloo]

I was just about to make a post about this and was wondering what had been lost. I thought the PHM 2010 remaster as well as the recent Broken, TDS and Fragile remasters all came from the original tapes.

This could still have affected With Teeth, perhaps. Trent ditched UMG in 2007.

[allegro]

some bad news if you read deep:

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/11/m...ecordings.html

As an amateur archivist, I am just shocked that they preserved the masters so shitty. I would definitely have them in a fireproof room/vault. Just kills me to hear that.

Reading the article, the scrapped Elvis master tapes for the scrap metal. Jeebus chwist..... Now they are finally realizing that you should preserve this history.

Among the incinerated Decca masters were recordings by titanic figures in American music: Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Al Jolson, Bing Crosby, Ella Fitzgerald, Judy Garland. The tape masters for Billie Holiday’s Decca catalog were most likely lost in total. The Decca masters also included recordings by such greats as Louis Jordan and His Tympany Five and Patsy Cline.

The fire most likely claimed most of Chuck Berry’s Chess masters and multitrack masters, a body of work that constitutes Berry’s greatest recordings. The destroyed Chess masters encompassed nearly everything else recorded for the label and its subsidiaries, including most of the Chess output of Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Willie Dixon, Bo Diddley, Etta James, John Lee Hooker, Buddy Guy and Little Walter. Also very likely lost were master tapes of the first commercially released material by Aretha Franklin, recorded when she was a young teenager performing in the church services of her father, the Rev. C.L. Franklin, who made dozens of albums for Chess and its sublabels.

Virtually all of Buddy Holly’s masters were lost in the fire. Most of John Coltrane’s Impulse masters were lost, as were masters for treasured Impulse releases by Ellington, Count Basie, Coleman Hawkins, Dizzy Gillespie, Max Roach, Art Blakey, Sonny Rollins, Charles Mingus, Ornette Coleman, Alice Coltrane, Sun Ra, Albert Ayler, Pharoah Sanders and other jazz greats. Also apparently destroyed were the masters for dozens of canonical hit singles, including Bill Haley and His Comets’ “Rock Around the Clock,” Jackie Brenston and His Delta Cats’ “Rocket 88,” Bo Diddley’s “Bo Diddley/I’m A Man,” Etta James’s “At Last,” the Kingsmen’s “Louie Louie” and the Impressions’ “People Get Ready.”

By this point, I was crying.

This is BEYOND infuriating. This is crazy negligence. All of this stuff should have been in a fire-proof / flood-proof facility, absolutely.

[allegro]

I'd love to be a fly on the wall for those conversations with the artists.

Except most of the artists are dead. That's the worst part. We can't get back history.

[stlkr]

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/11/m...tmag&smtyp=cur

Nice that Universal kept it a secret for such long time.

[ltrandazzo]

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/11/m...tmag&smtyp=cur

Nice that Universal kept it a secret for such long time.

Merged this into the Spotting thread.

[stlkr]

Merged this into the Spotting thread.

thank you. sorry for the mess. i rarely post here.

[hellospaceboy]

I finally had a chance to read the excellent New York Times article about the 2008 fire on the Universal Studios Hollywood lot that destroyed the entire UMG music archive.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/11/m...ecordings.html

These original master tapes span from the 1940s to present day, and included works by Luis Armstrong, Chuck Berry, all of Buddy Holly's recordings, Elton John, Sonic Youth, Soundgarden, G'n'R, and sadly Nine Inch Nails. The list is huge, btw, I was just cherry-picking artists. It's pretty heartbreaking.

"The monetary value of this loss is difficult to calculate. Aronson recalls hearing that the company priced the combined total of lost tape and “loss of artistry” at $150 million. But in historical terms, the dimension of the catastrophe is staggering."

Any guesses which NIN masters might have been lost in the fire?
Do I recall correctly, from a few years back, that the PHM tapes surfaced online for sale and Trent ended up getting them? So I assume it's not that.

[Conan The Barbarian]

Didn’t Trent have his masters since he was nothing records? Or did interscope keep those?

[sweeterthan]

I finally had a chance to read the excellent New York Times article about the 2008 fire on the Universal Studios Hollywood lot that destroyed the entire UMG music archive.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/11/m...ecordings.html

These original master tapes span from the 1940s to present day, and included works by Luis Armstrong, Chuck Berry, all of Buddy Holly's recordings, Elton John, Sonic Youth, Soundgarden, G'n'R, and sadly Nine Inch Nails. The list is huge, btw, I was just cherry-picking artists. It's pretty heartbreaking.

"The monetary value of this loss is difficult to calculate. Aronson recalls hearing that the company priced the combined total of lost tape and “loss of artistry” at $150 million. But in historical terms, the dimension of the catastrophe is staggering."

Any guesses which NIN masters might have been lost in the fire?
Do I recall correctly, from a few years back, that the PHM tapes surfaced online for sale and Trent ended up getting them? So I assume it's not that.

Merged this into nin spotting where it’s currently being discussed.

[ninjaw]

Didn’t Trent have his masters since he was nothing records? Or did interscope keep those?

Of course Trent got his stuff, there was a mention about the lost of Antichrist Superstar, but it's over.

[hellospaceboy]

Merged this into nin spotting where it’s currently being discussed.

Thanks, I should have looked there!

[chuckrh]

the list of artists that lost masters in the UMG vault fire:
38 Special
50 Cent
Colonel Abrams
Johnny Ace
Bryan Adams
Nat Adderley
Aerosmith
Rhett Akins
Manny Albam
Lorez Alexandria
Gary Allan
Red Allen
Steve Allen
The Ames Brothers
Gene Ammons
Bill Anderson
Jimmy Anderson
John Anderson
The Andrews Sisters
Lee Andrews & the Hearts
Paul Anka
Adam Ant
Toni Arden
Joan Armatrading
Louis Armstrong
Asia
Asleep at the Wheel
Audioslave
Patti Austin
Average White Band
Hoyt Axton
Albert Ayler
Burt Bacharach
Joan Baez
Razzy Bailey
Chet Baker
Florence Ballard
Hank Ballard
Gato Barbieri
Baja Marimba Band
Len Barry
Count Basie
Fontella Bass
The Beat Farmers
Sidney Bechet and His Orchestra
Beck
Captain Beefheart
Archie Bell & the Drells
Vincent Bell
Bell Biv Devoe
Louie Bellson
Don Bennett
Joe Bennett and the Sparkletones
David Benoit
George Benson
Berlin
Elmer Bernstein and His Orchestra
Chuck Berry
Nuno Bettencourt
Stephen Bishop
Blackstreet
Art Blakey
Hal Blaine
Bobby (Blue) Bland
Mary J. Blige
Blink 182
Blues Traveler
Eddie Bo
Pat Boone
Boston
Connee Boswell
Eddie Boyd
Jan Bradley
Owen Bradley Quintet
Oscar Brand
Bob Braun
Walter Brennan
Jackie Brenston and His Delta Cats
Teresa Brewer
Edie Brickell & New Bohemians
John Brim
Lonnie Brooks
Big Bill Broonzy and Washboard Sam
Brothers Johnson
Bobby Brown
Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown
Lawrence Brown
Les Brown
Marion Brown
Marshall Brown
Mel Brown
Michael Brown
Dave Brubeck
Jimmy Buffett
Carol Burnett
T-Bone Burnett
Dorsey Burnette
Johnny Burnette
Busta Rhymes
Terry Callier
Cab Calloway
The Call
Glen Campbell
Captain and Tennille
Captain Sensible
Irene Cara
Belinda Carlisle
Carl Carlton
Eric Carmen
Hoagy Carmichael
Kim Carnes
Karen Carpenter
Richard Carpenter
The Carpenters
Barbara Carr
Betty Carter
Benny Carter
The Carter Family
Peter Case
Alvin Cash
Mama Cass
Bobby Charles
Ray Charles
Chubby Checker
The Checkmates Ltd.
Cheech & Chong
Cher
Don Cherry
Mark Chesnutt
The Chi-Lites
Eric Clapton
Petula Clark
Roy Clark
Gene Clark
The Clark Sisters
Merry Clayton
Jimmy Cliff
Patsy Cline
Rosemary Clooney
Wayne Cochran
Joe Cocker
Ornette Coleman
Gloria Coleman
Mitty Collier
Jazzbo Collins
Judy Collins
Colosseum
Alice Coltrane
John Coltrane
Colours
Common
Cookie and the Cupcakes
Barbara Cook
Rita Coolidge
Stewart Copeland
The Corsairs
Dave “Baby” Cortez
Bill Cosby
Don Costa
Clifford Coulter
David Crosby
Crosby & Nash
Johnny Cougar (aka John Cougar Mellencamp)
Counting Crows
Coverdale•Page
Warren Covington
Deborah Cox
James “Sugar Boy” Crawford
Crazy Otto
Marshall Crenshaw
The Crew-Cuts
Sonny Criss
David Crosby
Bob Crosby
Bing Crosby
Sheryl Crow
Rodney Crowell
Pablo Cruise
The Crusaders
Xavier Cugat
The Cuff Links
Tim Curry
The Damned
Danny & the Juniors
Rodney Dangerfield
Bobby Darin
Helen Darling
David + David
Mac Davis
Richard Davis
Sammy Davis Jr.
Chris de Burgh
Lenny Dee
Jack DeJohnette
The Dells
The Dell-Vikings
Sandy Denny
Sugar Pie DeSanto
The Desert Rose Band
Dennis DeYoung
Neil Diamond
Bo Diddley
Difford & Tilbrook
Dillard & Clark
The Dixie Hummingbirds
Willie Dixon
DJ Shadow
Fats Domino
Jimmy Donley
Kenny Dorham
Jimmy Dorsey and His Orchestra
Lee Dorsey
The Tommy Dorsey Orchestra
Lamont Dozier
The Dramatics
The Dream Syndicate
Roy Drusky
Jimmy Durante
Deanna Durbin
The Eagles
Steve Earle
El Chicano
Danny Elfman
Yvonne Elliman
Duke Ellington
Cass Elliott
Joe Ely
John Entwistle
Eminem
Eric B. and Rakim
Gil Evans
Paul Evans
Betty Everett
Don Everly
Extreme
The Falcons
Harold Faltermeyer
Donna Fargo
Art Farmer
Freddie Fender
Ferrante & Teicher
Fever Tree
The Fifth Dimension
Ella Fitzgerald
Five Blind Boys Of Alabama
The Fixx
The Flamingos
King Floyd
The Flying Burrito Brothers
John Fogerty
Red Foley
Eddie Fontaine
The Four Aces
The Four Tops
Peter Frampton
Franke & the Knockouts
Aretha Franklin
The Rev. C.L. Franklin
The Free Movement
Glenn Frey
Lefty Frizzell
Curtis Fuller
Jerry Fuller
Lowell Fulson
Harvey Fuqua
Nelly Furtado
Hank Garland
Judy Garland
Erroll Garner
Jimmy Garrison
Larry Gatlin & the Gatlin Brothers
Gene Loves Jezebel
Barry Gibb
Georgia Gibbs
Terri Gibbs
Dizzy Gillespie
Gin Blossoms
Tompall Glaser
Tom Glazer
Whoopi Goldberg
Golden Earring
Paul Gonsalves
Benny Goodman
Dexter Gordon
Rosco Gordon
Lesley Gore
The Gospelaires
Teddy Grace
Grand Funk Railroad
Amy Grant
Earl Grant
The Grass Roots
Dobie Gray
Buddy Greco
Keith Green
Al Green
Jack Greene
Robert Greenidge
Lee Greenwood
Patty Griffin
Nanci Griffith
Dave Grusin
Guns N’ Roses
Buddy Guy
Buddy Hackett
Charlie Haden
Merle Haggard
Bill Haley and His Comets
Aaron Hall
Lani Hall
Chico Hamilton
George Hamilton IV
Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds
Marvin Hamlisch
Jan Hammer
Lionel Hampton
John Handy
Glass Harp
Slim Harpo
Richard Harris
Freddie Harts
Dan Hartman
Johnny Hartman
Coleman Hawkins
Dale Hawkins
Richie Havens
Roy Haynes
Head East
Heavy D. & the Boyz
Bobby Helms
Don Henley
Clarence “Frogman” Henry
Woody Herman and His Orchestra
Milt Herth and His Trio
John Hiatt
Al Hibbler
Dan Hicks and the Hot Licks
Monk Higgins
Jessie Hill
Earl Hines
Roger Hodgson
Hole
Billie Holiday
Jennifer Holliday
Buddy Holly
The Hollywood Flames
Eddie Holman
John Lee Hooker
Stix Hooper
Bob Hope
Paul Horn
Shirley Horn
Big Walter Horton
Thelma Houston
Rebecca Lynn Howard
Jan Howard
Freddie Hubbard
Humble Pie
Engelbert Humperdinck
Brian Hyland
The Impressions
The Ink Spots
Iron Butterfly
Burl Ives
Janet Jackson
Joe Jackson
Milt Jackson
Ahmad Jamal
Etta James
Elmore James
James Gang
Keith Jarrett
Jason & the Scorchers
Jawbreaker
Garland Jeffreys
Beverly Jenkins
Gordon Jenkins
The Jets
Jimmy Eat World
Jodeci
Johnnie Joe
The Joe Perry Project
Elton John
J.J. Johnson
K-Ci & JoJo
Al Jolson
Booker T. Jones
Elvin Jones
George Jones
Hank Jones
Jack Jones
Marti Jones
Quincy Jones
Rickie Lee Jones
Tamiko Jones
Tom Jones
Louis Jordan and His Tympany Five
The Jordanaires
Jurassic 5
Bert Kaempfert
Kitty Kallen & Georgie Shaw
The Kalin Twins
Bob Kames
Kansas
Boris Karloff
Sammy Kaye
Toby Keith
Gene Kelly
Chaka Khan
B.B. King
The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
Wayne King
The Kingsmen
The Kingston Trio
Roland Kirk
Eartha Kitt
John Klemmer
Klymaxx
Baker Knight
Chris Knight
Gladys Knight and the Pips
Krokus
Steve Kuhn
Rolf Kuhn
Joachim Kuhn
Patti LaBelle
L.A. Dream Team
Lambert, Hendricks & Ross
Frankie Lane
Denise LaSalle
Yusef Lateef
Steve Lawrence
Steve Lawrence & Eydie Gormé
Lafayette Leake
Brenda Lee
Laura Lee
Leapy Lee
Peggy Lee
Danni Leigh
The Lennon Sisters
J.B. Lenoir
Ramsey Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lewis
Meade Lux Lewis
Liberace
Lifehouse
Enoch Light
The Lightning Seeds
Limp Bizkit
Lisa Loeb
Little Axe and the Golden Echoes
Little Milton
Little River Band
Little Walter
Lobo
Nils Lofgren
Lone Justice
Guy Lombardo
Lord Tracy
The Louvin Brothers
Love
Patti Loveless
The Lovelites
Lyle Lovett
Love Unlimited
Loretta Lynn
L.T.D.
Lynyrd Skynyrd
Gloria Lynne
Moms Mabley
Willie Mabon
Warner Mack
Dave MacKay & Vicky Hamilton
Miriam Makeba
The Mamas and the Papas
Melissa Manchester
Barbara Mandrell
Chuck Mangione
Shelly Manne
Wade Marcus
Mark-Almond
Pigmeat Markham
Steve Marriott
Wink Martindale
Groucho Marx
Hugh Masekela
Dave Mason
Jerry Mason
Matthews Southern Comfort
The Mavericks
Robert Maxwell
John Mayall
Percy Mayfield
Lyle Mays
Les McCann
Delbert McClinton
Robert Lee McCollum
Marilyn McCoo & Billy Davis Jr.
Van McCoy
Jimmy McCracklin
Jack McDuff
Reba McEntire
Gary McFarland
Barry McGuire
The McGuire Sisters
Duff McKagan
Maria McKee
McKendree Spring
Marian McPartland
Clyde McPhatter
Carmen McRae
Jack McVea
Meat Loaf
Memphis Slim
Sergio Mendes
Ethel Merman
Pat Metheny
Mighty Clouds of Joy
Roger Miller
Stephanie Mills
The Mills Brothers
Liza Minnelli
Charles Mingus
Joni Mitchell
Bill Monroe
Vaughn Monroe
Wes Montgomery
Buddy Montgomery
The Moody Blues
The Moonglows
Jane Morgan
Russ Morgan
Ennio Morricone
Mos Def
Martin Mull
Gerry Mulligan
Milton Nascimento
Johnny Nash
Nazareth
Nelson
Rick Nelson & the Stone Canyon Band
Ricky Nelson
Jimmy Nelson
Oliver Nelson
Aaron Neville
Art Neville
The Neville Brothers
New Edition
New Riders of the Purple Sage
Olivia Newton-John
Night Ranger
Leonard Nimoy
Nine Inch Nails
Nirvana
The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
No Doubt
Ken Nordine
Red Norvo Sextet
Terri Nunn
The Oak Ridge Boys
Ric Ocasek
Phil Ochs
Hazel O’Connor
Chico O’Farrill
Oingo Boingo
The O’Jays
Spooner Oldham
One Flew South
Yoko Ono
Orleans
Jeffrey Osborne
The Outfield
Jackie Paris
Leo Parker
Junior Parker
Ray Parker Jr.
Dolly Parton
Les Paul
Freda Payne
Peaches & Herb
Ce Ce Peniston
The Peppermint Rainbow
Pepples
The Persuasions
Bernadette Peters
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
John Phillips
Webb Pierce
The Pinetoppers
Bill Plummer
Poco
The Pointer Sisters
The Police
Doc Pomus
Jimmy Ponder
Iggy Pop
Billy Preston
Lloyd Price
Louis Prima
Primus
Puddle Of Mudd
Red Prysock
Leroy Pullins
The Pussycat Dolls
Quarterflash
Queen Latifah
Sun Ra
The Radiants
Gerry Rafferty
Kenny Rankin
The Ray Charles Singers
The Ray-O-Vacs
The Rays
Dewey Redman
Della Reese
Martha Reeves
R.E.M.
Debbie Reynolds
Emitt Rhodes
Buddy Rich
Emil Richards
Dannie Richmond
Riders in the Sky
Stan Ridgway
Frazier River
Sam Rivers
Max Roach
Marty Roberts
Howard Roberts
The Roches
Chris Rock
Tommy Roe
Jimmy Rogers
Sonny Rollins
The Roots
Rose Royce
Jackie Ross
Doctor Ross
Rotary Connection
The Rover Boys
Roswell Rudd
Rufus and Chaka Khan
Otis Rush
Brenda Russell
Leon Russell
Pee Wee Russell
Russian Jazz Quartet
Mitch Ryder
Buffy Sainte-Marie
Joe Sample
Pharoah Sanders
The Sandpipers
Gary Saracho
Shirley Scott
Tom Scott
Dawn Sears
Neil Sedaka
Jeannie Seely
Semisonic
Charlie Sexton
Marlena Shaw
Tupac Shakur
Archie Shepp
Dinah Shore
Ben Sidran
Silver Apples
Shel Silverstein
The Simon Sisters
Ashlee Simpson
The Simpsons
Zoot Sims
P.F. Sloan
Smash Mouth
Kate Smith
Keely Smith
Tab Smith
Patti Smyth
Snoop Dogg
Valaida Snow
Jill Sobule
Soft Machine
Sonic Youth
Sonny and Cher
The Soul Stirrers
Soundgarden
Eddie South
Southern Culture on the Skids
Spinal Tap
Banana Splits
The Spokesmen
Squeeze
Jo Stafford
Chris Stamey
Joe Stampley
Michael Stanley
Kay Starr
Stealers Wheel
Steely Dan
Gwen Stefani
Steppenwolf
Cat Stevens
Billy Stewart
Sting
Sonny Stitt
Shane Stockton
George Strait
The Strawberry Alarm Clock
Strawbs
Styx
Sublime
Yma Sumac
Andy Summers
The Sundowners
Supertramp
The Surfaris
Sylvia Syms
Gábor Szabó
The Tams
Grady Tate
t.A.T.u.
Koko Taylor
Billy Taylor
Charlie Teagarden
Temple of the Dog
Clark Terry
Tesla
Sister Rosetta Tharpe
Robin Thicke
Toots Thielemans
B.J. Thomas
Irma Thomas
Rufus Thomas
Hank Thompson
Lucky Thompson
Big Mama Thornton
Three Dog Night
The Three Stooges
Tiffany
Mel Tillis
Tommy & the Tom Toms
Mel Tormé
The Tragically Hip
The Trapp Family Singers
Ralph Tresvant
Ernest Tubb
The Tubes
Tanya Tucker
Tommy Tucker
The Tune Weavers
Ike Turner
Stanley Turrentine
Conway Twitty
McCoy Tyner
Phil Upchurch
Michael Utley
Leroy Van Dyke
Gino Vannelli
Van Zant
Billy Vaughan
Suzanne Vega
Vega Brothers
Veruca Salt
The Vibrations
Bobby Vinton
Voïvod
Porter Wagoner
The Waikikis
Rufus Wainwright
Rick Wakeman
Jerry Jeff Walker
The Wallflowers
Joe Walsh
Wang Chung
Clara Ward
Warrior Soul
Washboard Sam
Was (Not Was)
War
Justine Washington
The Watchmen
Muddy Waters
Jody Watley
Johnny “Guitar” Watson
The Weavers
The Dream Weavers
Ben Webster
Weezer
We Five
George Wein
Lenny Welch
Lawrence Welk
Kitty Wells
Mae West
Barry White
Michael White
Slappy White
Whitesnake
White Zombie
The Who
Whycliffe
Kim Wilde
Don Williams
Jody Williams
John Williams
Larry Williams
Lenny Williams
Leona Williams
Paul Williams
Roger Williams
Sonny Boy Williamson
Walter Winchell
Kai Winding
Johnny Winter
Wishbone Ash
Jimmy Witherspoon
Howlin’ Wolf
Bobby Womack
Lee Ann Womack
Phil Woods
Wrecks-N-Effect
O.V. Wright
Bill Wyman
Rusty York
Faron Young
Neil Young
Young Black Teenagers
Y & T
Rob Zombie

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/25/m...tor=MediaREDEF

[GibbonBlack]

My word....

[cdm]

the list of artists that lost masters in the UMG vault fire...

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/25/m...tor=MediaREDEF

Interesting anecdote from Bryan Adams from 2013. He was a big deal back in the day and one would assume he still has pretty good representation...if news of the fire (and loss of his masters) had eluded him until reading the Times article you've got to assume A LOT of the artists on this list had no clue up until now. And that's after what seems like a pretty extensive search for specific masters. Crazy stuff. The UMG legal dept is going to have a busy couple of years.

[HurtinMinorKey]

Interesting anecdote from Bryan Adams from 2013. He was a big deal back in the day and one would assume he still has pretty good representation...if news of the fire (and loss of his masters) had eluded him until reading the Times article you've got to assume A LOT of the artists on this list had no clue up until now. And that's after what seems like a pretty extensive search for specific masters. Crazy stuff. The UMG legal dept is going to have a busy couple of years.

It's possible that UMG had sole ownership of the masters, no?

[cdm]

It's possible that UMG had sole ownership of the masters, no?

It surely varies from artist to artist. The fact he was looking for them to reissue leads me to believe he has at least partial rights to future publishing.

[Max]

I wonder if this means no more Definitive editions. Like what we have is what we have now.

[ryanmcfly]

I wonder if this means no more Definitive editions. Like what we have is what we have now.

Since the fire was in over a decade ago, doubt it.

[Deacon Blackfire]

If the NIN camp has all the masters needed to keep putting out Definitive Editions, I wonder what NIN masters were lost in the fire? Really hope Still didn't go up in flames or something...

Regardless, what a tragedy to lose so much irreplaceable music history. Shameful on Universal's part.

[zecho]

If the NIN camp has all the masters needed to keep putting out Definitive Editions, I wonder what NIN masters were lost in the fire? Really hope Still didn't go up in flames or something...

Regardless, what a tragedy to lose so much irreplaceable music history. Shameful on Universal's part.

With the way that TR has steadily put out instrumentals and stems and what not over the years, he at least has copies of everything from TDS on, so I wouldn't be too worried about it.

[Demogorgon]

It could be that the NIN masters that were lost weren't the only copies of said masters, like, if i was a perfectionist like Trent, i'd have my own copies of the masters of everything i'd ever done. Especially from TVT/Broken days on, because I would think at that point he'd have already learned not to put 100% trust in a label.

[Max]

With Teeth was done at Sound Coty which was analogue tape right? A “master” is only a master if it is the one original copy. Good point about the fire being ten years ago and definitive editions of some albums coming out since then. But maybe this explains the ones that didn’t come out? Guess we will see.