Ahead of We Are Not Your Kind's release, frontman Corey Taylor spoke out about the negative effects of streaming on bands, and how it’s “pricing artists – old and new – out of careers”.
Initially provoking his comments, member of Bruce Springsteen And The E Street Band Nils Lofgren posted a photo on Twitter of one of his royalty cheques for the amount of $7.91, going on to state that, “We simply don’t get paid for our work.” In a reply to his tweets, a report was posted explaining that artists will earn $0.01682 per play on Pandora or $0.00437 per play on Spotify, meaning that someone will need to reach around 336,842 total plays per month to earn the U.S. monthly minimum wage of $1,472 (Apple Music and Google Play Music pay $0.00735 and $0.00676 respectively).
Corey then weighed in on the matter, posting, “No-one points this out. And while Congress has passed legislation to right this wrong, almost all the streaming services are APPEALING, which means we STILL don’t get paid for our work. But please people, by all means – stream away…”
He then went on to emphasise that the only way bands and artists really make money these days is through playing shows: “We HAVE to tour. It’s the only way we can make a living. Merch helps, but the merch companies make the lion’s share. Streaming is pricing artists – old AND new – out of careers.”
When asked about if this was a genre-specific problem, Corey responded: “All due respect, I simply do not believe the ‘rock and metal isn’t popular’ idea. Our shows are sold out, our numbers are just as high as anyone else’s and we’ve been #1 every time. This isn’t about popularity, because it happens in EVERY GENRE.”