A group of high-profile pop musicians and estates sued the Universal Music Group on Friday over a 2008 fire that destroyed thousands of archived recordings but, according to the lawsuit, was never disclosed to the artists.

The suit was filed in Los Angeles by the rock bands Soundgarden and Hole, the singer-songwriter Steve Earle, the estate of Tupac Shakur and a former wife of Tom Petty. It is the first legal fallout from a New York Times Magazine investigation that found that the fire, at a back-lot warehouse at Universal Studios Hollywood, had destroyed over 100,000 audio recordings that contained as many as 500,000 songs.

According to the article, published this month, the lost assets included many master tapes — the original recordings from which albums and singles are made — by some of the most famous names in music history, from Ray Charles, Chuck Berry and Elton John to the Police, Nirvana and the Roots.

The suit accuses Universal, the biggest record company in the world, of breaching its contracts with artists by failing to properly protect the tapes. It also argues that Universal had a duty to share any income received as settlements from the fire, including an insurance payment and a legal settlement from NBCUniversal, the parent company of Universal Studios at the time. The claim seeks damages in excess of $100 million.