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Clark Johnsen wrote: > Which leads one to wonder, just how safe are any of the masters? And for > that matter, where *do* they reside? > > "Proliferation is preservation." For artists and records that were very popular, there is a good chance that duplicate metal parts exist in archives of various record labels who were licensed to press the material for foreign consumption. For most of the history of "records", the major labels in each country had either foreign affiliates owned by the parent, or foreign licensees (in some cases owned by their competitor in their own home market) to press their releases in that territory. Sometimes these were from dubbed masters, but quite often the licensees were provided with matrices plated from the original mothers. I like to think that some of this destroyed material survives *somewhere*, notwithstanding the very real decimation of record vaults on both sides of the Second World War as metal was needed for the making of munitions, and the record companies just happened to have a supply o fit. Michael Shoshani Chicago ...who just thought to ask our LC contingent: was it ever a requirement for copyright for a record company to deposit a phonorecord with the Library of Congress? If so, perhaps there are at least unplayed pressings available should Universal ever decide it wants to digitize something they had not yet done. (Probably wouldn't include outtakes and alternates, though.)