Dolly Parton Isn’t ‘Above’ Selling Her Back Catalog: ‘Never Say Never’
Dolly Parton is a music icon. Her newest album Run, Rose, Run was released on March 4, and it is a companion album to a novel of the same name that Parton co-wrote with James Patterson. In an interview with BBC promoting the album and book, Parton revealed that she is open to selling her music back catalog one day.
Dolly Parton would sell her music back catalog
A music catalog is a series of original pieces of music, and someone owns the copyright to each composition and catalog.
In a recent interview with BBC, Parton shared that she is open to one day selling the rights to her music back catalog.
“I would not be above doing that,” Parton said in the interview.
She continued, “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.”
Parton added, “Never say never, as they say.”
Other artists have sold their music back catalogs
While Parton is open to one day selling the rights to her music back catalog, other artists have already taken that step. In January, Bob Dylan‘s music back catalog was bought by Sony Music.
According to Variety, “… the deal was worth between $150 million and $200 million… This agreement, concluded in July 2021, comprises the entirety of Bob Dylan’s recorded body of work since 1962, beginning with the artist’s self-titled debut album and continuing through 2020’s ‘Rough and Rowdy Ways.'”
Dylan is not the only musician to sell a music catalog, and catalogs by big-name artists like Bruce Springsteen were also bought in recent months.
The Variety report continues, “Bruce Springsteen sold his publishing and recorded-music catalogs to Sony Music for a reported $550 million; David Bowie’s publishing was acquired by Warner Chappell Music earlier this year for upward of $250 million, sources tell Variety; Motley Crue’s recorded-music catalog was acquired by BMG late in November 2021 for around $90 million.”
Dolly Parton released a new album
Over the course of her career, Parton has released dozens of albums. Parton released Run, Rose, Run on March 4, and she wrote songs for the album while co-writing the novel Run, Rose, Run with Patterson.
In an interview on CBS Sunday Morning, Parton and Patterson discussed the making of Run, Rose, Run. While the two worked on the novel together, Parton ended up getting inspired to write songs as well.
“… Songs come to me easy, especially if I know what I’m writing about,” Parton said on the morning show.
Patterson added, “A couple days after I got there, she sent me the lyrics to seven songs.”
