2008 UMG Fire was catastrophic

[Chucktshoes]

I remember hearing about this, but this article lays out how truly catastrophic it really was. It was a devastating loss that will continue to affect our hobby forever.

The Day the Music Burned (Published 2019)

It was the biggest disaster in the history of the music business — and almost nobody knew. This is the story of the 2008 Universal fire.

www.nytimes.com

 

[LeeVing]

Yep...when they said they didn't lose anything at first you could tell they were just covering their asses.

It's a pretty sad read to get through...so many masters are gone.

 

[wingclipper]

Just catching up on this. So brutal

 

[ThePakoBuelna]

I think that we will be seeing a price surge on many stuff in a few years. Once more people notice that this has happened.

So sad, so much music lost...

 

[Nee Lewman]

I think we know why TMR used a safety for Trout Mask now. This will also put a wrench in some purist pursuits.

 

[Joe Mac]

I think we know why TMR used a safety for Trout Mask now. This will also put a wrench in some purist pursuits.

I think, whether people like it or not, it shows the importance of getting HQ digital transfers of all the master tapes out there. Even without disasters like this tape was never going to last forever.

 

[Nee Lewman]

I think, whether people like it or not, it shows the importance of getting HQ digital transfers of all the master tapes out there. Even without disasters like this tape was never going to last forever.

I think that is important for sure and it sounds like there is some work being done to do that.

What’s most interesting to me is the business side of this. The lack of a concern for history until a buck can be made and then the pain in the ass it becomes because there was such a lack of concern.

Furthermore, as seen in the lack of accountability with plants and the overburdening of those facilities when combined with systemic problems at pretty much every level of the industry, it shows that the record industry is just a clusterfork.

 

[panino]

I think that is important for sure and it sounds like there is some work being done to do that.

What’s most interesting to me is the business side of this. The lack of a concern for history until a buck can be made and then the pain in the ass it becomes because there was such a lack of concern.

Furthermore, as seen in the lack of accountability with plants and the overburdening of those facilities when combined with systemic problems at pretty much every level of the industry, it shows that the record industry is just a clusterfork.

and then there's William Basinski use of his old tapes, disintegrating while being transferred to digital, to create the fantastic disintegration loops.
It's not a true preservation of the tapes, since these were breaking down as the transfer to digital happened, but a use of the "new" sound created by the disintegration itself.

It's a truly interesting and fascinating experiment that plays with the physical rotting and decaying of sounds.
Listen to the hypnotizing hour of sounds he produced.


(sorry for going off topic here)

 

[Enoch]

I think that is important for sure and it sounds like there is some work being done to do that.

What’s most interesting to me is the business side of this. The lack of a concern for history until a buck can be made and then the pain in the ass it becomes because there was such a lack of concern.

Furthermore, as seen in the lack of accountability with plants and the overburdening of those facilities when combined with systemic problems at pretty much every level of the industry, it shows that the record industry is just a clusterfork.

Yeah, it is more about how to make the most money. Who cares about master tapes in 2008, they cost us money to store? 2019 we all care about masters where is the master for ___, oh the burned in 2008, oops guess we lost money on making the AAA release