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New Report Details Incalculable Losses To Our Musical Heritage In Devastating 2008 Universal Fire

A decade later, it is revealed that everything from Buddy Holly to Elton John went up in smoke.

"There were recordings from dozens of record companies that had been absorbed by Universal over the years, including several of the most important labels of all time. The vault housed tape masters for Decca, the pop, jazz and classical powerhouse; it housed master tapes for the storied blues label Chess; it housed masters for Impulse, the groundbreaking jazz label. The vault held masters for the MCA, ABC, A&M, Geffen and Interscope labels. And it held masters for a host of smaller subsidiary labels. Nearly all of these masters — in some cases, the complete discographies of entire record labels — were wiped out in the fire."

Of course the Universal has to be incredibly dishonest an issue a statement saying all of the music is still available-a totally separate issue from the loss of the masters.