The 1969 Creedence Clearwater Revival Recording Contract and How it Shaped the Future of the Group and its Members

Abstract

By 1969, the record business had been around in some way, shape, or form for nearly eighty years. For an octogenarian, it had never been healthier. A study commissioned by John Wiley of Columbia Records said that the business had grown 250 percent in the decade between 1955 and 1965. It predicted the record business would double in size again within the next decade. end of the upward trend is not yet in sight, added Wiley. Our future has never held more promise (Rood 1965).With the passing of rock and roll into just rock, the day of the music business robber barons had begun to fade. The previous decade saw musicians with massive hit records living in poverty, contracted to virtual slavery as recording artists. As Etta James once said, I.. .started my show business life living in a private hotel where you could cook.Other entertainers were there, like Curtis Mayfield. Everybody lived in this one hotel. was the one who had the kitchen. We used to put all our money together to eat. At that time, we would get two cents, three cents, five cents for bottles and at the end of the day we would get our money together and we'd get some food and cook it. remember us putting together and not having much, just enough to get some com meal. And learned that whenever you get hungry-I've told my kids this-if you've got enough money, you get some yellow com meal and you get some sugar. You can always get some sugar somewhere, even if you have to walk into a McDonald's someplace, and steal some of the sugar. Take sugar and commeal and fry it. Boy, is that good. Then, if you've got enough money, you get a little syrup. remember we ate that for two days. (James 1988)James recorded for Chess Records at the time, and had enormous crossover hits like At Last that continued to make money for someone, but certainly not for James (except, perhaps when she would perform in concert). The fact that such famous and popular musicians could be living in relative poverty on Chicago's South Side spoke to both legalities within the music business and race relations of the times, but only in terms of the degree to which they were exploited. James further recalled, I remember going to Chess records and Leonard Chess had a check on his desk.He said, T want you with Chess records. You will be really good. I'll get you out of the deal with Modem'1.. .He picked up this check and said, 'Let me show you what kind of royalties my artists make.' He lifted this check up to me and it was for ninety some thousand dollars, and it was made out to Chuck Berry and Alan Freed.2 was about to faint, there were so many zeros there. And he said, 'This is just for six months payment for Maybelline.'' had one hit record, All Do Is Cry, and then had Stop The Wedding and then had, My Dearest... were going in layers. So, it was about a year later, when it would be time for me to receive some royalties, went down there. was rubbing my hands together. knew was going to look down there and see a nice fat figure. saw that it was written in red. And said, '$14,000! All right!' And Leonard said, 'Hold it, hold it. Don't get all bent out of shape.'And was kind of confused, like what is he saying that for. And he says, 'Look Etta, don't worry about what that says. What do you need?' Now, I'm really confused. 'Here's what need, in big red numbers.' said, 'Wait a minute. You're saying don't have this coming?' 'Hell no, you don't have this coming,' he said. 'You owe me this. Just tell me what you need.' received a check for $10,000. took that $10,000 straight to Los Angeles and put $8,000 down on a house. (James 1988)She passed on in that house in 2012. Fellow Chess recording artist and rock and roll pioneer Elias Bo Diddley McDaniel's feelings about Chess were more succinct: They made me a mean dude (McDaniel 1996).In part due to the low maintenance paid to the artists, and in part due to the giddy advent of youth culture, the music business would continue to live up to Wiley's predictions until the very late 1970s and early 1980s, when it would experience its first major dip since prior to World War II. …