Judge John A. Kronstadt dismissed the class action lawsuit several artists filed against Universal Music Group because of the big Universal vault fire from 2008 that damaged at least 500,000 high-quality master recordings, Rolling Stone reports. Judge Kronstadt’s decision came after four of the five plaintiffs - Hole, Soundgarden, Steve Earle, and the Tupac Shakur estate - ended up dropping out of the suit. The case rested entirely on the remaining plaintiff: Tom Petty’s ex-wife Jane. Judge Kronstadt finally “dismissed the argument that UMG was obligated to pay Petty a portion of the recovery settlement, which the plaintiff unsuccessfully tried to characterize as a ‘license’ that ought to pay out royalties”. The judge also rejected a bailment argument that Universal failed to care for a valuable in its possession because Universal - and not Petty - actually owned the master tapes. The negligence portion of the suit was thrown out due to Petty’s standing contract with Universal, which never legally specified that Petty would be entitled to revenue from insurance claims.

In the latest filing in musicians’ class action lawsuit against Universal concerning 2008 warehouse fire, UMG has acknowledged that master recordings of these 19 artists were damaged or destroyed in the blaze: Sonic Youth, Nirvana, Elton John, Beck, Soundgarden, Sheryl Crow, R.E.M., Bryan Adams, …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead, David Baerwald, Jimmy Eat World, Les Paul, Peter Frampton, Michael McDonald, Slayer, Suzanne Vega, Surfaris, White Zombie, and Y&T. Universal claimed 17,000 artists were affected by the fire when they were suing for damages, these 19 are merely confirmed to have their masters damaged.

Chinese web giant had finalised a deal to buy 10% of the Universal Music Group from French entertainment conglomerate Vivendi for about $3.3 billion. Tencent is already the leading player in digital music in China, and exclusively represents the catalogues of various global music companies within the Chinese market, including all three majors. Complete Music […]

Universal Music Group is claiming neither Steve Earle nor Tom Petty nor Tupac Shakur did not lose original master recordings in a 2008 fire on the Universal Studios backlot, Variety reports. An investigation into the loss of material by Soundgarden, the only other current plaintiff, is ongoing. Hole has dropped out of the lawsuit because […]

Soundgarden, Hole and Steve Earle, as well as the estates of Tom Petty and 2Pac, have filed a class action lawsuit against Universal Music Group over a fire at Universal Studios Hollywood in 2008 that destroyed 500,000 irreplaceable master recordings. The suit accuses Universal Music of negligence when it came to preventing the fire, in […]

"The loss of even a single piece of archived material is heartbreaking" - sir Lucian Grainge said in an email to staff, a week after it was revealed that Universal Music's archive had been devastated by fire. The company's boss has described the losses as "painful", and, 11 years after the fire happened, shared a […]

At least 10 artists whose master recordings may have been destroyed in a 2008 fire at a storage facility on the grounds of Universal Studios Hollywood plan to sue Universal Music Group, the LA Times reports. “Claims of the people who have lost their futures in some respects are far more significant than would be […]

Thousands of master recordings were destroyed in “the biggest disaster in the history of the music business” - a fire at Universal Music Group’s Vault on Universal Studios, the New York Times reports. The fire happened back on June 1, 2008, it was widely reported at the time but mainly from a movies/television angle and […]