Recordings by Elton John, Nirvana and Thousands More Lost in Fire

[InfoSec News <alerts () infosecnews org>]

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/11/us/master-recordings-universal-fire.html

By Niraj Chokshi
The New York Times
June 11, 2019

Eleven years ago this month, a fire ripped through a part of Universal Studios
Hollywood.

At the time, the company said that the blaze had destroyed the theme park’s
“King Kong” attraction and a video vault that contained only copies of old
works.

But, according to an article published on Tuesday by The New York Times
Magazine, the fire also tore through an archive housing treasured audio
recordings, amounting to what the piece described as “the biggest disaster in
the history of the music business.”


What happened?

The fire started in the early hours of June 1, 2008.

Overnight, maintenance workers had used blowtorches to repair the roof of a
building on the set of New England Street, a group of colonial-style buildings
used in scenes for movies and television shows. The workers followed protocol
and waited for the shingles they worked on to cool, but the fire broke out soon
after they left, just before 5 a.m.

The flames eventually reached Building 6197, known as the video vault, which
housed videotapes, film reels and, crucially, a library of master sound
recordings owned by Universal Music Group.

Hundreds of firefighters responded to the fire. After trying to douse it with
foam retardant and water from a nearby lake, emergency personnel decided to
dismantle the warehouse containing the vault to more easily put out the fire.

[...]

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