How Cold Chisel Managed To Own All Their Music

Cold Chisel have some of the most anthemic songs in Australian musical history. And they own them all outright.

That comes down to knowing your worth – and some clever business decisions.

The new podcast, Cold Chisel, explores the band's five-decade history, including some of their behind-the-scenes machinations.

Initially, every record label in the country had passed on signing Chisel.

Jimmy Barnes admits that they probably didn’t look like the most stable band in the mid-1970s.

“The record companies would come along and see us, and we'd be swearing at each other and throwing things,” Barnes tells the podcast. “And, you know, falling off the stage and picking fights with the audience, and I'd just be maggoted. So, I think they just thought we were too volatile. It wasn't going to happen. And they thought we'd break up at any minute.”

When Chisel eventually signed with WEA back in September 1977, it was a three-album deal with a $700 advance.

It wasn’t an incredible deal, but as Chisel’s main songwriter, Don Walker, notes, “It was the only deal.”

The label wanted half of that sum to be spent on upgrading their shabby wardrobe.

“It was a generous deal by the standards of the time,” Walker says. “I think I bought about two shirts.”

The third album in Chisel’s three-album deal was 1980’s East, which had sold 150,000 copies by the end of that year.

That put Chisel and their manager, Rod Willis, in a great position when WEA (now Warner Music) wanted to re-sign what had become Australia’s hottest band.

From their fourth album, Circus Animals, onwards – Cold Chisel would now own their own music, not WEA.

Record labels generally own the music artists signed to them make. They pay to record it, so by owning the albums, they can make back their investment.

Artists not owning their own music has long caused grief in the business – leading to Prince writing ‘slave’ on his face and George Michael suing Sony to break his contract.

Taylor Swift has re-recorded albums her old record company owned – and wouldn’t sell back to her due to the amount of money they make from them.

Owning the copyrights to your own music was rare in the '70s and '80s – it still is – but it was something Chisel’s management, Dirty Pool, would also implement for another client, Icehouse.

When Chisel split after 1984’s Twentieth Century, their first three albums – Cold Chisel, Breakfast At Sweethearts and East – were still owned by WEA.

When WEA/Warner lost the race to sign Chisel for the 1998 comeback album The Last Wave Of Summer, Rod Willis had included a clause in Chisel’s contract with WEA that meant ownership of their first three albums would revert back to them after a period of time.

“At a certain point, there was a renegotiation of the catalogue and the record deal,” Don Walker says. “Rod did a deal where the catalogue came back to us after thirteen years, something like that. Seems a long time at the time. ‘Oh, we're going to be, we're going to be stuck where we are for thirteen years’, but it goes past quickly, and then that comes around, and you own all your stuff and Rod’s, who can take the credit for that.

“Once you reacquire ownership, you have control over those recordings,” Walker says. “When the control was in the hands of Warner’s for many years – we never faced a situation where they wanted to put a song in a beer commercial or anything like that because they respected the catalogue. But nevertheless, that was their decision to make in those years, and once you own your own catalogue, that is your decision to make.”

When Rod Willis did a deal for Warner to retain the rights to the Chisel albums (even if Mushroom got to release The Last Wave Of Summer), part of the negotiation in keeping the catalogue was that Chisel would then own their first three albums outright.

“So Cold Chisel now owns all their product. Everything that they put out, they own,” Rod Willis says. 

“It was not as easy to get. And it took a number of years for me to be able to have enough leverage to be able to do that. But it's ideal if you can end up owning your own product because then you know you’re the master.”

Lead singer Jimmy Barnes says being in charge of your entire catalogue is something very few artists enjoy.

“In this world, it's a big thing. That's our life's work, and not many bands really get it back. It’s the healthiest way to be in the modern world. You have a lot more control over your own destiny.”

Cold Chisel have now sold over seven million albums in Australia, with the recent compilation 50 Years – The Best Of becoming their sixth No.1 on the ARIA charts.

The band sold over 220,000 tickets for their Big 5-0 anniversary tour, which resumes with shows in New Zealand in January.

The Cold Chisel podcast is available now exclusively on LiSTNR. You can listen to it here.