Oasis recordings auctioned for £1.6m despite band objections — SkimNews
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- Littleton Auctions in Evesham, Worcestershire, has listed the Oasis archive with a guide price of £1.2m–£1.6m and a sale date of 3 October, despite the band expressing concerns about the sale
- Owain Richards, son of former Oasis sound engineer Huw Richards, is selling the collection — 209 DAT tapes, 73 analogue cassettes, and 3 MiniDiscs amassed between 1994's Definitely Maybe and 2001
- Oasis management previously held discussions with Owain Richards about the tapes, but those talks "fizzled away"; Richards said the band wanted the recordings returned rather than sold elsewhere
- The archive includes what is believed to be the only recording of Oasis's 1996 concert on the banks of Loch Lomond, plus rehearsals, soundchecks, and informal conversations between the Gallagher brothers and touring crew
- Oasis retain intellectual property rights over the recordings, meaning whoever buys the archive cannot commercially exploit it without the band's cooperation
- The sale lands amid renewed interest in Oasis following last year's reunion tour — Noel and Liam Gallagher's first stage appearances together in 15 years
Why it matters: Whoever pays up to £1.6m for this archive acquires a historically rich collection but cannot commercially exploit any of it without Oasis's cooperation — a structural limitation that likely caps the material's market value and gives the band leverage to reclaim the tapes. The timing during the Gallaghers' reunion tour amplifies both collector appetite and the band's stated displeasure at seeing intimate recordings go to auction.
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