Editing Chess Records (section)

===Later incarnations===
In the early 1980s, noticing that much of the Chess catalogue was commercially unavailable, Marshall Chess was able to convince Joe and [[Sylvia Robinson]], who ran All Platinum, to reissue the catalogue themselves under his supervision (All Platinum had been licensing selected tracks to other companies, which ultimately resulted in the disappearance of some original master tapes).<ref name="bluestogold"/> The reissued singles and LPs sold well, but by the mid-80s All Platinum had fallen into financial difficulties, and the Chess master recordings were acquired by [[MCA Records]], which itself was later merged with [[Geffen Records]], a [[Universal Music]] imprint.

In the 1990s, MCA Records sued [[Charly Records]] for selling CDs which contained copyrighted material by Chess artists.<ref>{{cite magazine
| author      = Holland, Bill
| date        = October 8, 1997
| title       = MCA Is Victor in Supreme Ct. Refusal to Hear Charly Case
| magazine     = [[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]
| page        = 7
| access-date  = December 31, 2010
| url         = https://books.google.com/books?id=nAkEAAAAMBAJ&q=%22Chess+Records%22+1997&pg=PA7-IA4
}}</ref>

In February 1997, MCA started releasing eleven [[compilation album]]s for the 50th anniversary of Chess Records.<ref>{{cite magazine
| author      = Reece, Doug
| date        = December 7, 1996
| title       = Vital Reissues – A Selected Guide to Fourthcoming Releases
| magazine     = [[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]
| page        = 52
| access-date  = December 31, 2010
| url         = https://books.google.com/books?id=uAkEAAAAMBAJ&q=%22Chess+Records%22+1997&pg=PA52
}}</ref>

In the 2000s, Universal's limited-edition reissue label, [[Hip-O Records|Hip-O Select]], began releasing a series of comprehensive box sets devoted to such Chess artists as [[Muddy Waters]], [[Howlin' Wolf]], [[Little Walter]], [[Bo Diddley]] and [[Chuck Berry]].

In July 2008, the [[2008 Universal Studios fire]] burned down a warehouse filled with [[Universal Music Group]] [[mastering (audio)|recording masters]], including many albums and songs released by Chess. These masters, by artists such as Chuck Berry, were "priceless" and irreplaceable; while UMG claimed at the time it had copies, later investigative reporting questioned this, with the truth emerging that all the masters were destroyed.<ref>{{cite news |last=Chokshi |first=Niraj |title=Recordings by Elton John, Nirvana and Thousands More Lost in Fire
 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/11/us/master-recordings-universal-fire.html |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=June 11, 2019 |url-access=subscription |access-date=June 12, 2019 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news
| last      = Rosen | first= Jody
| date        = June 11, 2019
| title       = The Day the Music Burned
| work     = [[The New York Times]]
| url-access = subscription 
| access-date  = June 12, 2019
| url         = https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/11/magazine/universal-fire-master-recordings.html
}}</ref>

Chess Records was the subject of two films produced in 2008, ''[[Cadillac Records]]'' and ''[[Who Do You Love? (2008 film)|Who Do You Love?]]''. In addition to the Chess brothers, both films feature portrayals of or characters based on [[Willie Dixon]], [[Muddy Waters]], [[Little Walter]], [[Chuck Berry]], [[Howlin' Wolf]] and [[Etta James]]. ''Cadillac Records'' was directed by [[Darnell Martin]] and features an ensemble cast including [[Adrien Brody]] (as Leonard Chess), [[Mos Def]] (as Chuck Berry), [[Beyoncé Knowles]] (as Etta James) and [[Jeffrey Wright]] (as Muddy Waters). ''Who Do You Love'' was directed by [[Tony Award]] winner [[Jerry Zaks]] and stars [[Alessandro Nivola]] playing [[Leonard Chess]] "as a complicated, driven man, hard on both his musicians and his family, yet with a real love for some of America's greatest music." The world premiere of the latter film was at the Toronto International Film Festival, September 11, 2008.<ref>{{cite magazine| url = https://www.variety.com/review/VE1117938406?refcatid=2863| title = Who Do You Love - Review| author = Anderson, John| date = September 17, 2008| access-date = November 6, 2012| magazine = Variety}}</ref>