A blaze at Universal Studios Hollywood in 2008 destroyed scores of master tapes of classic albums and singles, a New York Times investigation reveals. Masters of records by Universal artists throughout the decades, including Nirvana, R.E.M., John Coltrane, Joni Mitchell, Eminem, Aretha Franklin, Nine Inch Nails, Ray Charles, Tupac, Janet Jackson, Beck, Snoop Dogg, and many more, were lost, limiting the possibilities for high-quality reproductions and adaptations in the future.

The fire made headlines at the time, but Universal shifted attention to the burned “King Kong” theme park attraction and more manageable losses of video content, in an operation described as a “triumph of crisis management” by the article’s author, Jody Rosen. Some suggest the label feared backlash from artists and estates whose masters were destroyed, according to the Times. “Lost in the fire was, undoubtedly, a huge musical heritage,” reads a 2009 internal assessment viewed by the Times. That includes “almost all” of Buddy Holly’s masters, most of John Coltrane’s Impulse Records releases, and singles such as Bill Haley and His Comets’ “Rock Around the Clock” and Etta James’ “At Last.”

In response to the article, Universal Music Group claimed in a statement to Pitchfork that The Times’ article contains “numerous inaccuracies, misleading statements, contradictions and fundamental misunderstandings of the scope of the incident and affected assets.” The company claims, in recent years, to have released “master-quality, high-resolution, audiophile versions of many recordings that the story claims were ‘destroyed.’”

Universal adds that it has more than doubled its investment in “storage, preservation, and metadata enrichment” in the last five years. Pitchfork has requested clarification on which elements of The Times’ reporting UMG considers inaccurate.

Read Jody Rosen’s full story.