Original Master Recordings Up For SPINK Auction

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The “priceless” original master recordings from some of the world’s biggest stars, including Ed Sheeran, Blondie and the Killers, are coming up for sale. In the first auction of its kind, the only existing copies recorded at Abbey Road Studios are being offered by Spink auction house in London.

"Ed Sheeran - Live From Abbey Road" MICHAEL GLEASON

The material is owned by Michael Gleason, a Texan entrepreneur and producer living in London. He has videos, photos and tapes - including hours of unseen footage shot on as many as eight high-definition cameras and unheard audio captured by as many as 90 microphones - by artists as varied as The Gipsy Kings, Jamiroquai, Alanis Morissette and Natasha Bedingfield. Indie, country, jazz, metal (Iron Maiden), Manchester Bands (Elbow, Beady Eye) and more all took part.

It is the Holy Grail for fans to own a collection of original master studio recordings, Gleason says in an interview. The recordings come with no commercial rights, so if the record companies ever wanted to issue the material, they would need to talk to whoever buys the material. While Gleason says the auction may appeal to music lovers, art collectors, museums, music schools, fan clubs, artists and their labels, he is not authorizing that the buyers are entitled to reproduce or show the recordings. Buyers could, of course, create their own private mixes. There are hundreds of audio and video streams to play with. There are many takes of some songs, and with all the camera angles there are thousands of hours of material on offer.

“When we offered them to the auction houses, some said it was hard to put a value on them, they were priceless,” says Gleason. “It’s hard to know what will happen because this has never been done before. There are three things that affect value: rarity – and there aren’t any copies of this; provenance – and you’re buying from the creator; and quality - and these are the best live performances that most of these artists have done.”

In 2005, Gleason had been on the board of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and came to Britain when MGM considered buying EMI libraries. MGM was sold itself in 2005 and Gleason went to Abbey Road, where he met Peter van Hooke, the drummer from Mike + The Mechanics: “He had filmed a pilot at Abbey Road, based on the Beatles’ idea of a live artist broadcasting from there, like the one they did in 1967. So I set up there and decided to produce a show. Rather than get a commission, I funded it myself, because I thought we could take it internationally. I went to Channel Four and they bought the show on an acquisition basis. That covered part of our budget. The guys at Fremantle Media bought it to distribute. Getting artists to come to Abbey Road was easy: ‘I’d love to come,’ they said. We immediately booked Dr. John, then Paul Simon, with Steve Gadd playing drums. That got other musicians comfortable with our technique, because it was completely different. It wasn’t the Jools Holland show. It had no presenter and no audience.

Seal on the "zebra crossing" outside Abbey Road MICHAEL GLEASON

“The artists set up in the morning and had the studio for the day to do as many takes and whatever songs they wanted. They could bring their own mix desk or use those in Studio Two or Studio One. I set up an office in Abbey Road and was there for about six or seven years.

“It was well supported by the labels, because this was still at a time when they would cover the expenses to bring a group there. Nobody was paid. It was done for promotion.”

From 2006-2012, more than 140 artists performed more than 600 songs and were interviewed in a TV series that reached more than 120 countries. Seal stopped traffic on the crosswalk outside the studios, Wynton Marsalis played for eight hours, The Gypsy Kings powered through “Bamboléo” and Debbie Harry of Blondie came in on her birthday and got a cake.

Many bands took it very seriously: the Killers did an album’s worth of material - six songs and five solo tracks by Brandon Flowers, some requiring eight takes before they were happy.

A sample of the many pieces of material provided with each lot. SPINK

The TV series ended when EMI was bought up by Universal, Gleason says: “I had operated under license from EMI, where I paid for everything and we then owned the recordings. We distributed everything with the labels’ permission in time-limited agreements. Those clearances are all running out and I don’t expect them to be renewed. In the U.K., the producer or creator of the recordings is the owner of the recordings, while the performers have performance rights. It’s really a thicket of rights with songwriters and everybody else. The artists also had exclusive recording agreements, but when they came to the show, the labels allowed me to record them just for that time.

“I had multiple conversations with the labels after this. They have lots of master recordings that are the backbone of their business, and unless there are commercial reasons I’m not sure they are interested. Particularly if you’re like a Sony and they have maybe 25 artists that did our show. In order to commercially use these recordings, they have to go to Universal. If you want to say ‘Live from Abbey Road,’ you have to have Universal’s permission, because they own trademark uses of Abbey Road.”

Gleason has taken legal advice before the sale and adds: “What’s not in any question is the fact that we own these recordings, I’m not selling them saying, ‘Oh, you got this power or anything like that.’ I’m selling them saying, ‘You’re now the guardian. And you’re now the owner of this incredibly detailed look at this brilliant artist and their performance at the best recording studio in the world.’ For example, I remember Cee-Lo Green of Gnarls Barkley literally going down on his knees on those famous front steps.”

He hopes the material will sell at market value. “If you’re Ed Sheeran or his record label, you can bid on it and you can buy it. If someone else buys it, Atlantic or Ed would need to come to them and make a deal.” The starting price is $7,500 per lot – arguably low when the material is irreplaceable and the costs of production were considerable.

Blondie's Debbie Harry at Abbey Road MICHAEL GLEASON

While negotiations stalled over invitations to ZZ Top, Willie Nelson and Steely Dan, Gleason is pleased that he managed to capture many artists who have gone to bigger success. He namechecks Panic! at the Disco, Foster the People and Two Door Cinema Club.

“I thought it was time to share the wealth, and sell them to people who would love to own them. It’s a difficult proposition to keep all this stuff.”

Gleason had to persuade Channel 4 to take a program by Ed Sheeran: “He’s just had his first album in 2011 and they didn’t know who he was. I said, ‘Look, this guy is going to be big.’ We didn’t have a slot. We were filming the Kooks one afternoon. So he came in that morning, just him, his dad and another guitar player. He was walking around with his backpack. Nobody had a clue who he was. He did a great 6 ½ minute version of “You Need Me, I Don’t Need You.”

Gleason also recalls: “I first saw Jamiroquai in Las Vegas in 1997 when he opened for the Rolling Stones. I’ve never seen a man move like that. Such energy. After the Abbey Road session, he told me he remembered that Vegas show and partying with Keith Richards for four days, he was wiped out.”

Tapes also include the final performance of Civil Wars, with Joy Williams and John Paul White hardly looking at each other; a session with Lisa Hannigan, on the point of break-up with Damian Rice, burning holes in the back of his head as they sang “F*** You”; and an excellent if tense session by Ray LaMontagne which ended early when he got angry with the photographer.

For each artist, the buyer gets a USB flash drive, a translucid, lathe cut vinyl dub plate pressed with the final master versions, a Glyph 1TB hard drive of all of the digital recorded material, any other film material and photos taken at the session.

Michael Gleason LIVE FROM ABBEY ROAD

The first auction will take place on June 20 and features more than 60 songs by 18 artists also including Elbow, Mika, The Good the Bad & the Queen, Randy Crawford, Joe Sample, Friendly Fires, Two Door Cinema Club, Django Django, The Kooks, Beady Eye and Anna Calvi.

霸泉

limited budget