Led Zeppelin receives Gold Record awards for their debut LP, presented by Atlantic Records' VP, Jerry Wexler.

June Harris reports in NME (8/2/69): GOLDEN ZEPPELIN

I almost cried with joy as I watched Led Zeppelin receiving a Gold Disc for the sales of their first album, "Led Zeppelin," which has now totaled over one million dollars in sales and a half million copies.

Jimmy Page got all choked up. So did John Bonham, John Paul Jones and Robert Plant, as Atlantic's Jerry Wexler gave them their awards. Jimmy kept remembering how last October, he brought in the first tapes of their album and how I made a forecast with him that not only would the group win a Gold Disc, but within a year they'd be making $15,000 a night and be as big as Cream or Hendrix.

On their present tour, lasting seven weeks, Led Zeppelin will net somewhere between $300,000 and $350,000, with some dates at $15,000. And the year is not up yet.

"There hasn't been a time when I can honestly say we've ever felt let down for one moment. Look at this," Jimmy said, pulling from his pocket the most magnificent 18-carat gold watch from Tiffany's. "These watches were presented to us by the owner of the Kinetic Theatre in Chicago after out date there last weekend. It's just fantastic!"

"And for each of us to have Gold Records. We didn't tell Bonzo. He thought we were going to get one between us and we'd have to split it up, each of us getting it for three months at a time. I think he's speechless." 

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Atlantic Recording Corporation : Official Press Release
July 25, 1969 | From June Harris

LED ZEPPELIN WIN GOLD DISC, BREAK OFFICE RECORDS

Led Zeppelin have been awarded a Gold Disc. At a luncheon held at Atlantic Records last Thursday (July 24), the British group was presented with their award by executive vice president Jerry Wexler, for sales in excess of $1,000,000 on their first album, “Led Zeppelin”, issued on the Atlantic label in January.

The LP which has sold half-a-million copies, has remained solidly in the best selling charts since the time of its release and is currently still in the top 30. Led Zeppelin’s second album is presently in the completion stages, and with advance orders totaling over 200,000, it will be issued shortly.

Led Zeppelin, featuring Jimmy page, John Paul Jones, Robert Plant and John Bonham – all of whom received individual Gold Records at the luncheon – are on the first lap of a new US tour lasting seven weeks, which will bring the group between $300,000 and $350,000. On the first two dates, they broke existing box office records at the Kinetic Playground in Chicago, playing to 10,000 in two days and pulling $20,000 out of the date. So successful was this engagement that one end of North Clark St, in which the club is situated, was barricaded off from the crowds by the police, and the promoter presented each member of the group with engraved gold watched from Tiffany’s.

Led Zeppelin also sold out the Cleveland Music Carnival which grossed $13,000 (capacity) at the box office. The group is receiving between $7,000 and $10,000 a night against percentages, with scattered dates at $15,000.

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