Universal Music Group Fire: Artists React/Respond to Report of Master Recordings Being Destroyed
Since the feature from New York Times Magazine on Universal Music Group reportedly losing nearly 500,000 song master recordings in a 2008 fire, many artists have since issued statements regarding their own recordings.
Here are just some of the artist’s reactions and responses to this report.
Nirvana’s Krist Novoselic
When asked via Twitter if the master recording of Nirvana’s Nevermind were among the tapes destroyed, Novoselic responded, “I think they are gone forever.”
https://twitter.com/KristNovoselic/status/1138605461815455745
R.E.M.
R.E.M. issued the following statement in response the New York Times Magazine article: “REMHQ is receiving inquiries from many people concerned about the New York Times article on the Universal Music fire 11 years ago. We are trying to get good information to find out what happened and the effect on the band’s music, if any. We will detail further as and when.”
REMHQ is receiving inquiries from many people concerned about the New York Times article on the Universal Music fire 11 years ago. We are trying to get good information to find out what happened and the effect on the band’s music, if any. We will detail further as and when.
— R.E.M. HQ (@remhq) June 11, 2019
Hole
A representative for Hole told Pitchfork that the band was never informed their master tapes were destroyed in the 2008 fire and that the band was “not aware until this morning [when the article was released]” of their tapes being lost.
Steely Dan
Steely Dan’s manager Irving Azoff issued the following statement to Variety regarding the band’s master recordings: “We have been aware of ‘missing’ original Steely Dan tapes for a long time now. We’ve never been given a plausible explanation. Maybe they burned up in the big fire. In any case, it’s certainly a lost treasure.”
Erica Banas is rock/classic rock news blogger that loves the smell of old vinyl in the morning.
