Michael Edenborough QC comments on the Universal Music case where artists are suing the company for $100m over a fire that destroyed thousands of recordings. See Michael's comment below.

In 2008, there was a massive fire in a warehouse used by Universal Music to store many hundreds of thousands of original master recordings, some of which comprised unreleased music. Such a loss is a cultural and personal tragedy. However, the recently reported cover-up by Universal Music, who successfully claimed about $150m in insurance, but who apparently has neither informed the affected artists fully of their losses nor distributed any compensation to those artists, amounts to a grievous betrayal of trust by the music monolith of the talent upon which it depends. It also highlights the critical need to make copies of everything important and to store those copies in different secure and properly protected locations to guard against such a calamity. If the allegations of negligence are true, then Universal Music should hang its head in shame, and be boycotted by artists in future as it has shown itself unworthy of being a custodian of such treasures.