Otis Reading - A Catalogue Artist

Otis Reading was one of the first artists to really benefit from album sales. He wasn't having huge hit singles and his albums weren't making the pop top 40, but they kept selling. Everything from Otis Blue onward sold 200,000 or so copies - a massive number in the much smaller album market of the time. These sales gave Reading some leverage. His contract with Stax was coming to an end in a few months, and he was getting offers from other companies. The catalogue artist had become something that was almost unknown in rock and soul music at this time.