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American rock artist John Fogerty has acquired the music rights of his former band Creedence Clearwater Revival (CCR). “After fifty years I am finally reunited with my music,” said 77-year-old Fogerty in a press statement.
Fogerty, singer and guitarist of CCR and writer of most of the songs, fought for the rights of his music for decades. In the mid-1960s, shortly after founding what would later become CCR, he struck a deal with the music label of the savvy film and music producer Saul Zaentz. It later turned out that it was a strangling contract.
For a long time, Fogerty barely earned royalties from iconic songs like Bad Moon Rising, Have You Ever Seen The Rain, Proud Mary in Fortunate Son.
One of the most famous CCR songs is 1969’s Fortunate Son, which became a prominent indictment of the Vietnam War:
Fogerty has regularly spoken out in recent decades about what he saw as the misuse of his music for advertisements, for example. The dispute over the rights also led to a bad relationship with his brother Tom, who died in 1990, with whom he founded CCR.
Fogerty tried to get hold of the rights to his music through numerous lawsuits. He has now succeeded by buying a majority share of the CCR catalog from the label that has owned the music since 2004, Concord Records.
It’s not clear what Fogerty paid for the rights. In a press release he says he never thought he would ever get his hands on his music again.
Fogerty celebrated buying his CCR music with pie:
The fact that Fogerty buys the rights to his songs goes against the trend in the music world. In recent years, numerous music icons have sold the rights to their music.
At the end of last year, for example, Justin Bieber reportedly sold his music to an investment fund for $ 200 million. Artists such as Bruce Springsteen ($500 million), Sting ($300 million) and Bob Dylan ($200 million) preceded him.
