After half a century of legal battle, American musician John Fogerty announced on Thursday that he has regained the copyright to songs he composed for his seminal 1970s band Creedence Clearwater Revival.
At a time when his rock and folk peers — Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan or Neil Young — are selling the rights to their works for hundreds of millions of dollars, Fogerty, 77, is doing the opposite.
“Since January, I am back to owning my own songs. I thought it would never happen. I can’t wait to tour and celebrate this year! “, the artist rejoiced on his site, talking about the “resurrection”.
In fact, one of the most painful pages in the history of a musician’s copyright and intellectual property in the United States has turned: Fogerty — the composer of the famous “Brood Mary,” “Have You Ever Seen the Rain” and “Bad Moon” — to regain control after what he says is a bad record deal 50 He fought in court for years.
In the heart of the 1960s, the era’s “Pope” for music and cinema, Saul Zaentz, who died in 2014, signed Fogerty and his group Creedence Clearwater Revival (CCR) to his label Fantasy Records.
Very quickly, the rights to the popular anti-Vietnam War song were at the center of complaints, proceedings and press campaigns led by “Fortunate Son” John Fogerty.
When his group CCR collapsed in the early 1970s, the fight with Fantasy Records intensified in an attempt to break the contract. in vain
The result was a long silence for the artist who refused to even sing his former group’s titles.
It wasn’t until 2004 that the Concorde label bought Fantasy, but John Fogerty regained the rights.
Recently, the rocker made an offer with confidential financial details, which Concord subscribed to.
According to media Billboard, in order to first reveal the Thursday deal from John Fogerty’s mouth, Concord House must already own the rights to CCR, while the musician must return all his copyrights.
These rights make it possible to receive dividends on radio or streaming broadcasts of a title, album sales, or their use in advertising or film, and recording rights holders can decide on future re-releases.
In a statement, Concord president Bob Valentine called Fogerty’s work “one of the greatest compositions of the 20th century” and said he was “overjoyed” to seal a deal.
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