Tweet
Counsel for the Death Row Records Bankruptcy Estate filed an "Emergency Motion" on November 17, 2008 requesting an extension of the sale date for the assets of Death Row Records -- to January 12, 2009. The Motion was prompted by the recovery of some fifteen (15) boxes containing hard disk drives, 2" reels of master recordings, and hundreds of Digital Audio Tapes and Compact Discs of never-before-released material by artists including Tupac Shakur, Michel'le, Kurrupt, Magoo, Li'l Jon, Danny Boy and Petey Pablo.
The materials were apparently removed surreptitiously from the Death Row storage facilities prior to the bankruptcy filing. Counsel for the Trustee tracked them down after they were turned in to the Livingston County, Michigan Sheriff's Department in conjunction with a criminal proceeding related to an associate of Marion "Suge" Knight. Counsel obtained the materials and has returned them to the custody of the Death Row Records Bankruptcy Trustee, R. Todd Neilson.
According to papers filed with the Bankruptcy Court, a preliminary index of the unreleased songs in these new materials, which fill eight (8 ) hard drives, runs to over 1,000 pages. A sound engineer operating under the supervision of Virgil Roberts, former head of Solar Records and business consultant to the Death Row Records Trustee, has opined that in excess of 1,000 unreleased new songs have been discovered which are "remarkably contemporary in their sound and quality," and that the commercial value of the sound recordings and publishing rights could run "in the millions of dollars." "This is a treasure trove of unreleased material," said Virgil Roberts.
Court papers filed by the Trustee state that a "listening room" will be set up to permit interested buyers to hear the new materials in order to submit bids on the Death Row assets by January 5, 2009. Certain bids for a new sale, set before the recovery of these new materials, have already been received as of November 17.
At a previous auction in June, the Death Row catalog -- without these newly discovered assets -- had sold for twenty-four million dollars ($24 million), but the purchaser, Global Music Group, failed to close the sale, prompting a renewed auction. "We believe that the discovery of these hidden assets substantially and materially increases the value of the Death Row assets, which is why we have asked the Court to extend the date of the sale," said Peter Haviland, one of the Death Row Records Trustee's lawyers.
source
The materials were apparently removed surreptitiously from the Death Row storage facilities prior to the bankruptcy filing. Counsel for the Trustee tracked them down after they were turned in to the Livingston County, Michigan Sheriff's Department in conjunction with a criminal proceeding related to an associate of Marion "Suge" Knight. Counsel obtained the materials and has returned them to the custody of the Death Row Records Bankruptcy Trustee, R. Todd Neilson.
According to papers filed with the Bankruptcy Court, a preliminary index of the unreleased songs in these new materials, which fill eight (8 ) hard drives, runs to over 1,000 pages. A sound engineer operating under the supervision of Virgil Roberts, former head of Solar Records and business consultant to the Death Row Records Trustee, has opined that in excess of 1,000 unreleased new songs have been discovered which are "remarkably contemporary in their sound and quality," and that the commercial value of the sound recordings and publishing rights could run "in the millions of dollars." "This is a treasure trove of unreleased material," said Virgil Roberts.
Court papers filed by the Trustee state that a "listening room" will be set up to permit interested buyers to hear the new materials in order to submit bids on the Death Row assets by January 5, 2009. Certain bids for a new sale, set before the recovery of these new materials, have already been received as of November 17.
At a previous auction in June, the Death Row catalog -- without these newly discovered assets -- had sold for twenty-four million dollars ($24 million), but the purchaser, Global Music Group, failed to close the sale, prompting a renewed auction. "We believe that the discovery of these hidden assets substantially and materially increases the value of the Death Row assets, which is why we have asked the Court to extend the date of the sale," said Peter Haviland, one of the Death Row Records Trustee's lawyers.
source
Comment