Universal Music Fire Will Have ‘Zero Impact’ on Company’s Value, and Artists Will Have a Tough Time Suing: Analysts

As for the valuation, the upshot is that investors looking at UMG will care significantly less about, say, unreleased Louis Armstrong recordings that were reportedly lost in the fire than the prospect that his hits like “What a Wonderful World” or “Hello Dolly” will continue to generate income for decades to come.

Although first-generation master recordings are like gold to serious fans, researchers and archivists — not to mention the artists themselves — another analyst said that factor is negligible in the context of the entire company’s value. Perhaps above all, despite the vast number of archival releases labels have issued since the CD boom of the 1980s and ‘90s, music remains a forward-looking business, says analyst Russ Crupnick of MusicWatch.

“The issue is: Who owns the thing that was lost?,” the attorney says. “I can’t say there is no recording agreement in history that says the physical master tape is owned by an artist, but in the vast majority of recording agreements, it’s owned by the record company.

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