Oasis Push Back as 200-Plus Tape Archive Heads to Auction for Up to £1.6 Million
A trove of more than 200 Oasis recordings — 63 live shows, 100 hours of rehearsals, outtakes, soundchecks and private conversations between band members — goes under the hammer on October 3 at Littlehouse Auctions in the United Kingdom, valued at £1.2 million to £1.6 million (US$1.62 million to US$2.16 million) The Guardian.
The band is not happy about it.
Oasis are "unhappy" with the planned sale and want the tapes returned to their possession, according to Paul Brannigan, reporting for Yahoo Entertainment on September 7. Ben Homer, managing director of Littlehouse Auctions, confirmed that Oasis's team has expressed concerns, citing the scale and significance of the material Artnet.
The consignor is Owain Richards, son of Huw Richards, who served as Oasis's sound engineer from 1994 through 2001. The archive he is offering comprises 209 DAT tapes (Digital Audio Tape, a format widely used for professional recording in the 1990s), 73 analogue cassettes and three MiniDiscs. Among the contents is the only known recording of the band's 1996 concert at Loch Lomond in Scotland Artnet.
Richards told The Times that Oasis contacted him several years ago because they "needed some recordings" and want the tapes back rather than sold. The band's PR team did not respond to a request for comment Artnet.
There is a catch for any prospective buyer. Oasis still own the intellectual property rights to the recordings, meaning that whoever purchases the physical tapes would have to confer with the band before releasing or commercially exploiting the contents Artnet.
The sale comes on the heels of the Venice premiere of the Oasis documentary Oasis: Don't Look Back in Anger, which has kept the Britpop group in the headlines through the late summer.
The Guardian first reported the auction on September 7, framing it as an archive of more than 100 hours of recordings encompassing concerts, rehearsals, soundchecks and band-member conversations The Guardian. PA Media added that the 63 live shows and soundchecks form the core of the collection, with outtakes rounding it out PA Media.
For fans, the draw is obvious: unreleased live material from the band's 1990s peak, including a Loch Lomond show that exists nowhere else. For Oasis, the objection appears to hinge on both ownership and control — the band wants the recordings in their own hands, not circulating through a third-party sale. Whether the October 3 auction proceeds as planned, and whether a buyer emerges at the £1.2 million floor, remains an open question.
