Dolly Parton has said “never say never” to selling the rights to her music back catalogue.
The 76-year-old country music legend – who already owns her own publishing company – has considered following in the footsteps of a number of big-name stars, including Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and Neil Diamond, who have recently cashed in by selling their back catalogues for mega-money.
On what she would do with the cash, the ‘Jolene’ hitmaker told the BBC: “I would not be above doing that.
“All I would do then is to take that money and do whatever for my family or other businesses.
“Then I would start a whole new publishing company, start over in a few years, sell that too if I wanted to.
“Never say never, as they say.”
In January, Dylan sold his entire catalogue of recorded music to Sony in a deal thought to be worth around $200 million.
The agreement included all of the legendary musician’s work since 1962, starting with his self-titled debut album, and up to 2020’s ‘Rough and Rowdy Ways’.
The 80-year-old star – who has sold more than 125 million records worldwide and is best-known for hits ‘Mr. Tambourine Man’, ‘Like A Rolling Stone’ and ‘Make You Feel My Love – commented: “Columbia Records and Rob Stringer have been nothing but good to me for many, many years and a whole lot of records.
“I’m glad that all my recordings can stay where they belong.”
While Sony did not confirm the financial details, Billboard estimated Dylan’s master recordings are now worth $200 million or more.
The sale followed Springsteen, 72, selling his catalogue to Sony in December, for an estimated $500 million.
Meanwhile, Warner Chappell Music purchased the publishing rights to David Bowie’s “entire body of work” from the late star’s estate for more than $250 million last year.