In June 2008, a fire roared through a building at Universal Studios Hollywood, destroying thousands of audio recordings by music luminaries like Bing Crosby, Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong and Tom Petty.

The severity of the fire long went undisclosed, according to an article published by The New York Times Magazine on Tuesday, despite the fact that a confidential report in 2009 by Universal Music Group estimated the loss at about 500,000 song titles.

[Read The New York Times Magazine’s article about the day the music burned.]

The disclosure — along with the extent to which the damage was hidden from the public and artists — has drawn criticism from musicians who worked for Universal Music Group or its subsidiaries. Other artists have expressed worries about important recordings lost in what the article described as “the biggest disaster in the history of the music business.”