Rare archive of Oasis recordings heads to auction
Commenting in Digital Music News and Complete Music Update, Managing Partner Euan Lawson and Partner Ben Gisbey discuss the proposed sale of a major archive of Oasis recordings, examining the difference between owning the physical copies of the recordings and the rights to the intellectual property in the recordings themselves, and what the sale could mean for both Oasis and a potential buyer.
Managing Partner Euan Lawson commented:
"This case illustrates that physical recording materials can be owned independently of the IP rights embodied in those materials. In practice, however, the position is rarely entirely straightforward. Sound engineers are usually engaged on contractual terms that give them no express rights in either the tapes or files themselves, or the IP embodied in them.
"Even if a sound engineer owns the physical recordings, there is very little they can do with them. It is highly unlikely that the engineer has any ownership interest in the IP or has the artists’ consent to exploit their performances. So while the physical tapes may potentially be bought and sold, what a purchaser can actually do with the recordings is a very different question."
Partner Ben Gisbey commented:
"Oasis may be able to prevent a buyer from commercially exploiting the recordings without their consent by exercising their performers' rights. However, it would be shortsighted to view this simply as a sale of memorabilia.
"The band may wish to exploit the recordings themselves in future, leaving them with a difficult decision: do they buy the archive themselves now, or do they risk any buyer demanding a substantial fee for access to the recordings down the line?"
Euan and Ben's comments were published in Digital Music News, 7 September 2026 and Complete Music Update, 8 September 2026.
