All props to John Fogerty, a truly great songwriter and singer. During their heyday at the end of the 60's and beginning of the 70's, Creedence was second only to the Beatles when it came to selling records and for good reason. He didn't own his songs for a long time, so good for him for selling his catalog. Plenty of other artists have done it; I remember when David Bowie was one of the first ones.
John Fogerty Ready to Sell Songs
John Fogerty Says He’d Be Willing to Sell His Catalog
Speaking further your peers, it's still so interesting that while so many hitmakers sold their catalogs, you bought yours. Obviously you had turmoil for years with your songs. When you see others selling for $200 million, does it make you wonder if you'd sell now?
Yeah, when you find out there's a number attached to something you have. Gosh, $200 million buys a lot of rice and beans. I had to live so much of my life not owning my own songs. It was of course a tragedy but it was a part of me. It was like a plaid shirt I had to wear. It was horrible. I felt so bad about that for so long, that I was hoodwinked. I felt like a fool. There was a big dishonest cheater at the center of it.
Now that I do own it, people started calling me right away asking if I'd sell. It was like "No! I'd tried so hard to own it all these years!" I think Bob Dylan had a really good take on it, he seemed to not want his kids fighting over a song. It's too awful to have your kids struggling over. It's a lot simpler to cash it out and put the money somewhere, hopefully some estate planning. It's hard enough for the guy who wrote it himself.
So in your lifetime, is that what you see yourself doing too?
Yeah, and that'd be the main motivation. Also, I have a very good life, don't get me wrong. I ended up with a golden ticket, I have no right to complain. But it'd probably be a good idea for me as a family man to sell the stuff while I still have time to enjoy the benefits of such a big nest egg.
- ...
- 5 posts total
- 5 posts total