Slipknot and Stone Sour frontman Corey Taylor was asked by the Irish Times if a successful band could survive just on royalties from streaming sales. He responded, “You could if the streaming system wasn't set up the way it is. You are being paid less than pennies . . . If the streaming systems paid more online with how publishing in radio pays — people could make a living.”
Taylor continued, “I have had friends of mine who have had to retire, and they are popular bands, because they can't make a living . . . I haven't got a problem with streaming. I have got a problem with how these streaming services rip off the artist and I'll say that until the day I die.”
The singer revealed that the going rate for a million streams on YouTube, which he claimed pays the “lowest rate,” was 0.04 percent of a penny per stream, meaning that the artist gets around $400 for a million streams. He added, “People can't live on that and there's not a lot of people who get these numbers. The majority of this goes to the record label anyway.”
Slipknot percussionist Shawn “Clown” Crahan told us a while back what he thought was wrong with the record business: “I mean, where do you want me to start? The labels are horrible. The producers who play the game and collect the bill is horrible. You know, the Pro Tools, the efficiency of creating music is horrible. How 'bout the standard of freaking musician that gets allowed to play music for people? It's just bad, but what's good is that the will and the love for music has not changed.”
Slipknot is touring behind the band's sixth studio LP, We Are Not Your Kind.