Classic recordings by Bing Crosby, Judy Garland and the Carpenters were among the "thousands of original recording masters" from the Decca, MCA and ABC labels that were originally thought to have been destroyed.
"We had no loss, thankfully," a Universal spokesperson told Billboard. "We moved most of what was stored there earlier this year to our other facilities." The use of the word "most" might not settle the nerves of hardened archivists, there is no cause for panic: Universal had taken the advice of computer geeks who kept reminding them to "back up your data!"
"The small amount that was still there and awaiting to be moved had already been digitised so the music will still be around for many years," the spokeperson said. "[We] also had physical backup copies of what was still left at that location, so we were covered."
Unfortunately, Universal Studios was not able to make digital backups of everything, especially not animatronic gorillas - a 30ft robot of King Kong was among the casualties that did indeed go up in smoke.
See Also
