Around this time 11 years ago, the music industry suffered a huge loss. According to Paste magazine, Universal Music Group recently went under investigation as it turns out there was a fire that took place in 2008 at Universal Studios Hollywood. Due to the fire, many master recordings from many musicians, including the late Aretha Franklin, which they had some of her earlier recordings when she first stepped on to the scene. Other artists include Ray Charles, Gladys Knight, Elton John, Janet Jackson, No Doubt, Nine Inch Nails, and Snoop Dog to name a few.

The fire had swept the Universal Studios backlot in the early morning of June 1, 2008. It eventually made its way toward Building 6197, the video vault that housed tapes, reels and an impressive library of master sound recordings. After the fire was burned down, nearly every single master recording in the vault was destroyed. A report made by Universal in 2009 reported that an estimated  500,000 songs were lost in the fire.

Universal played off the fire shortly after the fire took place, claiming that the fire had only destroyed the theme park’s “King Kong” attraction and a video vault with copies of old works. An internal assessment provided by the New York Times stated, “Lost in the fire was, undoubtedly, a huge musical heritage.”

.