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.

"As of January, I am the owner of my own songs again. I thought this would never happen. I can't wait to tour and celebrate this year!", rejoiced the artist on his site, speaking of a "resurrection".

In fact, turns one of the most painful pages in the history of copyright and intellectual property of a musician in the United States: Fogerty - composer of the famous "Proud Mary", "Have You Ever Seen the Rain" and "Bad Moon Rising" -- fought 50 years in court to regain control after what he said was a bad record deal.

In the heart of the 1960s, the "pope" of the time for music and cinema, Saul Zaentz, who died in 2014, signed Fogerty and his group Creedence Clearwater Revival (CCR) with his label Fantasy Records.

Very quickly, the rights of the famous song against the Vietnam War "Fortunate Son" are at the heart of complaints, procedures and press campaigns led by John Fogerty.

When his group CCR collapsed in the early 1970s, the fight intensified with Fantasy Records in an attempt to break the contract.

In vain.

Result, a long period of silence for the artist, who even refuses to sing the titles of his former group.

It was not until 2004 that the Concord label bought out Fantasy, but John Fogerty did not recover his rights.

Recently, the rocker made an offer with financial details that remained confidential, to which Concord subscribed.

According to the media Billboard, first to reveal the agreement Thursday from the mouth of John Fogerty, the Concord house should retain the rights of CCR already in its possession while the musician should regain all his copyrights.

American musician John Fogerty, October 10, 2013 in Los Angeles © KEVIN WINTER / Getty / AFP / Archives

These rights make it possible to receive dividends on the broadcasting of a title on the radio or in streaming, on album sales or on their use in an advertisement or in a film, and the holders of recording rights can decide to future reissues.

In a statement, Concord President Bob Valentine called Fogerty's work "one of the greatest compositions of the 20th century" and said he was "more than happy" to have sealed an agreement.

© 2023 AFP