A&M RecordsUniversal Music Group has filed a motion requesting that Soundgarden drop their lawsuit against the company over the alleged destruction of master recordings in the 2008 Universal Studios fire, Billboard reports.
The motion claims that UMG informed Soundgarden of the extent of the damage to their masters back in 2015. It states that the grunge legends were told that just 21 of the 1,301 Soundgarden-related assets were “impacted by the fire, none of which were multitrack masters.”
Soundgarden’s suit maintains that “to this day, UMG has failed to inform” them of the true state of their recordings.
Speaking to Billboard, Soundgarden’s lawyer Howard King says, “For 10 years, UMG concealed from artists the damage the fire inflicted on their life’s works.”
The attorney adds, “Why would we accept anything they say at face value now, especially since they refuse to provide us with their actual testimony given (under seal) detailing losses of masters they claimed in their $100 million damage lawsuits against NBC Universal and their own insurance company?”
Soundgarden — along with Hole, the ex-wife of the late Tom Petty, the estate of rapper Tupac Shakur and Americana singer-songwriter Steve Earle — originally filed the lawsuit in June,following a report from The New York Times Magazine detailing the fire’s alleged damage.
Hole has since been dropped as a plaintiff “based upon UMG’s representations that none of Hole’s masters were destroyed.”
According to the Times, other artists who lost their masters in the fire include Nirvana, Guns N’ Roses, R.E.M., The Eagles, Aerosmith, Chuck Berry, The Police, Janet Jackson, Aretha Franklin, Elton John and Eminem.
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