It'd be easy to assume that everyone in Slipknot does extremely well for themselves. The band released several massive albums, has their own festival, and is on the road damn near constantly. Though that really only keeps them comfortably afloat.
According to Corey Taylor in an interview with FeedbackDef podcast, nobody in Slipknot is living large despite all they do. Which makes sense – Slipknot has huge crew, massive live production, all the costs of touring, management, and then finally nine dudes in the band to split the rest of the money among.
"Honestly, in a weird way, we don't make a lot of money," said Taylor. "I mean, we make enough to live, obviously, 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. We're not extravagant. We're not rich by any stretch of the means, but we do okay. 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."
Taylor humorously notes that Slipknot isn't ever gonna see Taylor Swift-type money, and addresses the fact that everyone thinks all rock stars are rolling in cash. Swift being a prime example, given her constantly being in headlines and having more money than probably every single metal band combined.
"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. We appeal to a lot of them, so we do okay, 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. 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."
