Hidden crisis threatens future of analogue master tapes

A silent threat is emerging inside record archives, where thousands of master tapes from the analogue era are approaching the limits of their physical lifespan.

According to engineers, tapes manufactured throughout the 1970s and 1980s are now beginning to suffer from severe chemical deterioration. As reported by The New York Times, these failures include not only the long-recognised problem known as “sticky shed syndrome” in magnetic tape, but also a newer and far more destructive problem known as adhesion, where layers of tape fuse together into a single, hardened mass.

At the centre of efforts to rescue these recordings is Kelly Pribble, a senior preservation specialist at global archiving and conservation company Iron Mountain. Working with custom-built machines, ultrasonic cleaning systems and improvised drying setups, Pribble has successfully stabilised and recovered heavily damaged recordings by artists such as Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen. Thanks to this work, material from Dylan’s Empire Burlesque era was preserved for inclusion in the 2021 release Bootleg Series Vol. 16.

The roots of the problem trace back to changes in tape manufacturing in the early 1970s, when organic compounds were replaced by synthetic lubricants. Early forms of degradation, such as sticky head, can often be treated through the careful process of “baking” tapes. More recent and complex adhesion issues, however, may require months-long chemical soaking and mechanical separation, turning restoration into a slow, highly labour-intensive and costly process.

The scale of the risk is substantial. Major record labels, archives and artist estates collectively hold millions of analogue reels. Concord, which owns the rights to recordings by Cannonball Adderley among many others, estimates that fully restoring its archive would require an investment running into the millions of dollars. In cases where restoration is no longer viable, engineers are sometimes forced to rely on lower-quality safety copies for modern reissues.

With many tapes now approaching the limits of their physical lifespan, archivists describe the situation as a race against time. Iron Mountain continues to develop automated systems designed to scale Pribble’s methods on a global level, in an effort to safeguard endangered recordings before further losses become irreversible.

From a preservation standpoint, numerous disco-era master recordings that audio-preservation engineers would be wise to prioritise come into focus. This is not about confirmed damage, but about high-risk, high-value material from that period, when tape chemistry and manufacturing practices are now known to pose long-term risks. Recordings such as ‘Love Is the Message’ and ‘TSOP’ by MFSB, ‘Magic Journey’ by The Salsoul Orchestra, ‘I Feel Love’ by Donna Summer, ‘Risqué’ by Chic, ‘Ten Percent’ by Double Exposure, ‘Ring My Bell’ by Anita Ward, ‘Relight My Fire’ by Dan Hartman and ‘Spacer’ by Sheila B. Devotion represent culturally foundational works whose master tapes sit squarely within that vulnerable era.

You can read The New York Times report in full here.