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 The blaze, which gutted a popular "King Kong" attraction and a
swath of the studio's fabled outdoor lot, also destroyed nearly
all the master recordings stored there in a Universal Music
Group archive, a loss that has long gone undisclosed, the
magazine reported on Tuesday.
Universal Music estimated in a confidential 2009 report that the
loss encompassed about 500,000 song titles, the article said.
In a statement on Wednesday, the company called the incident
"deeply unfortunate," but said the Times story contained
"numerous inaccuracies, misleading statements, contradictions
and fundamental misunderstandings of the scope of the incident."
The extent of the loss, documented in litigation and company
records the article cited, was largely kept from the public eye
through a concerted effort on the part of the music label, the
magazine said.
Many of the artists whose own material was reported to have been
destroyed expressed shock.
"Oh my Lord ... this makes me sick to my stomach,"
singer-songwriter Sheryl Crow wrote on Twitter, posted with a
link to the article. "And shame on those involved in the coverup."
The rock band R.E.M said in a Twitter statement that concerned
fans were making inquiries. "We are trying to get good
information to find out what happened, and the effect on the
band's music, if any," the group tweeted.
Original sound recordings of many of the greatest names in
popular music since the 1940s - from Louis Armstrong and Judy
Garland to Tom Petty and 50 Cent - are believed to have gone up
in smoke in what the article described as "the biggest disaster
in the history of the music business."
Master recordings are typically owned and controlled by the
music labels for the artists in their catalog. But they are seen
as vital to musicians' legacy as they are original,
one-of-a-kind recordings considered the truest representation of
sounds captured in the studio.
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Masters are the source material for all reproductions, including
re-releases and remixes, made for distribution, whether on digital
medium or vinyl.
Universal Music Group, now owned by French media conglomerate
Vivendi, said the fire "never affected the availability of the
commercially released music nor impacted artists' compensation."
The New York Times article "ignores the tens of thousands of back
catalog recordings that we have already issued in recent years,
including master-quality, high-resolution, audiophile versions of
many records that the story claims were 'destroyed,'" Universal
Music said.
Irving Azoff, manager for the group Steely Dan, said in a statement
that the musicians had "been aware of 'missing' original Steely Dan
tapes for a long time now."
"We've never been given a plausible explanation," Azoff said. "Maybe
they burned up in the big fire. In any case, it's certainly a lost
treasure."
Krist Novoselic, a founding member of the 1990s grunge band Nirvana,
responded to a fan on Twitter asking whether the Times article meant
that the masters for the group's landmark "Nevermind" album were
gone. He wrote: "I think they are gone forever."
(Reporting by Lisa Richwine and Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Editing
by Leslie Adler)
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