Artists question label’s numbers

R.E.M., Nirvana and Elton John are some of the 19 artists confirmed so far in court filings to have lost master recordings in a 2008 warehouse fire, Rolling Stone has reported. Universal Music Group, which revealed the names, also included Beck, Soundgarden, Sheryl Crow and Sonic Youth, as it faces a class-action lawsuit over the Los Angeles blaze. But a lawyer representing the class action questions UMG’s claim. “Universal claimed 17,000 artists were affected by the fire when they were (assessing insurance losses),” Howard King said. “Now that they face a lawsuit by their artists, they claim a mere 19 artists were affected.”