Warner Music Discovers Photos, Memorabilia In Archives

Warner Music Group has undertaken a massive search of its archives, seeking valuable photographs and other musical memorabilia, according to The New York Times .

Called "Sight of Sound," the project aims to excavate the contents of nearly 100,000 boxes located all over the world. Items uncovered so far range from an 1819 handwritten letter by Beethoven recommending a publishing company now owned by WMG to a former pupil, a hand-written history of Atlantic Records by label co-founder Ahmet Ertegun, original album-cover artwork by pre-fame Maurice Sendak and photography by Annie Liebovitz, Jim Marshall and many others.

Iconic Rock Shots From "Trust: Photographs Of Jim Marshall"

Famed photographers who shot for the company include Robert Mapplethorpe, Irving Penn and Lee Friedlander. Photos of Aretha Franklin, Miles Davis, Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones have been mentioned by executives involved with the project, but the artists who have been with WMG over the decades number in the thousands. "With today's emerging digital platforms, we have the opportunity to inspire a renaissance in visual art associated with music," Will Tanous, a WMG executive who is overseeing the project, told the Times.

Scratching Under the Vinyl Era [New York Times]

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Song Stories

“I'm Yours”

Jason Mraz | 2008

Jason Mraz re-emerged after his disappointing second album with this lead single, a Jack Johnson-esque ditty about giving yourself fully to someone else. The success of the reggae-tinged song (it earned two Grammy nods and a spot on the Billboard singles chart for well over a year) was something the folk-pop singer never predicted when he wrote it in 15 minutes at home. "I played a happy-hippie chord progression that would probably work without 50 different Bob Marley songs," he told Rolling Stone. "I thought, 'It's too novelty. This is a nursery rhyme,'" concluding that "you can never guess what's gonna be a hit."

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