Hmmm...it's a bit hard to say it, but what they do now is much more acceptable than what they did two or three decades ago, as descibed in this old article. At least now they, apparently, care for their archives, and not:
Irwin said that the employees had been instructed to destroy the tapes because "for every tape they got off the shelves, they saved the company a nickel a month--that was the attitude."
Another major factor at all labels that impeded proper care of older recordings, they said, was the pre-CD-era perception that they were of negligible value and not viewed as ever producing revenue again
Another major factor at all labels that impeded proper care of older recordings, they said, was the pre-CD-era perception that they were of negligible value and not viewed as ever producing revenue again