"We’re never gonna see Taylor Swift money": Corey Taylor discusses Slipknot's finances, and says the band "don’t make a lot of money"

Corey Taylor and Taylor Swift — (Image credit: Theo Wargo/Getty Images | John Shearer/Getty Images for TAS)

Corey Taylor reckons that, far from being millionaire rock stars, Slipknot are "upper middle class" in terms of their earnings.

Taylor got onto the topic of his band's finances during a wide-ranging 90-minute interview on the FeedbackDef podcast, which was recorded back in July, and posted online on October 11.

After discussing the nature of capitalism, and the addictive, obsessive nature of individuals constantly pursuing more wealth, Taylor touches upon his own band's wealth, and says, “Honestly, in a weird way, we don’t make a lot of money.”

“I mean, we make enough to live, obviously,” he clarifies, “and we can live comfortably. But we’ve never been offered massive deals.

“There’s a lot of us in the band, and there’s a whole crew that we have to pay. There’s the production that we have to pay for. There’s all of this shit that we need to pay for. So at the end of the day, we are paid pretty much commensurate with what we are worth.”

“We’ve never been even close to the big paydays that sports people get, actors… all of that shit. So in a weird way, we’re kind of… if you adjust for inflation, we’re upper middle class, basically.”

Having previously discussed the band's “Mid-Western values", the singer goes on to say, “We’re not extravagant. We’re not rich by any stretch of the means, but we do OK. I can take care of my family. Their educations are good to go. I have insurance for all of my kids. And really, that’s it.”

“Maybe it’s because we’re so reactionary. Maybe it’s because we are not palatable for a mass audience. We appeal to our genre and people kind of on the outskirts of our genre, but that’s it.”

Concluding this rare analysis of Slipknot's income, the singer adds, “we do OK, but we’re never gonna see fucking Taylor Swift money, shit like that.”

“So the misconception that all rock stars are just rolling in it, that’s not true,” he states. “There’s a reason why we have to tour as much as we do, because that’s the only way we can actually pay our fucking bills.”

You can watch the full interview with Slipknot's frontman below:

Meanwhile, Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour concert film banked $97 million on its opening weekend in US cinemas, then an additional estimated $31 million on weekend two, making it the biggest concert movie of all time.

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A music writer since 1993, formerly Editor of Kerrang! and Planet Rock magazine (RIP), Paul Brannigan is a Contributing Editor to Louder. Having previously written books on Lemmy, Dave Grohl (the Sunday Times best-seller This Is A Call) and Metallica (Birth School Metallica Death, co-authored with Ian Winwood), his Eddie Van Halen biography (Eruption in the UK, Unchained in the US) emerged in 2021. He has written for Rolling Stone, Mojo and Q, hung out with Fugazi at Dischord House, flown on Ozzy Osbourne's private jet, played Angus Young's Gibson SG, and interviewed everyone from Aerosmith and Beastie Boys to Young Gods and ZZ Top. Born in the North of Ireland, Brannigan lives in North London and supports The Arsenal.