slipknot
16:02 Friday, 15 August 2025
See? There's money in metal! You just gotta have a successful career of nearly 30 years and make music everyone likes. Easy.
Anyway, Slipknot is reportedly in talks to sell its publishing and recorded masters royalty income in a deal valued around $120 million. According to Billboard, sources indicate the band has either finalized or is close to closing with HarbourView Equity Partners, one of the most active buyers in the music and entertainment rights market.
According to industry tracker Luminate, Slipknot’s recorded masters have moved 14.6 million album consumption units in the U.S. alone, amassing 6.8 billion domestic streams. When factoring in global activity, that total jumps to 15.73 billion streams worldwide — a testament to the enduring demand for the band’s music more than two decades after their 1999 self-titled debut exploded onto the scene.
The same Billboard report notes that in the deal, Slipknot retains ownership of its publishing, which is part of what’s on the table in this deal, but Warner Music Group controls the master recording catalog through its 2007 acquisition of Roadrunner Records. That means only the band’s royalty income from those masters is being offered, not the masters themselves. Sources also suggest not every member is participating, which could narrow the slice of income HarbourView would acquire.
Based on Luminate’s data, Billboard estimates Slipknot’s masters have averaged 740,000 album consumption units per year in the U.S. over the past three years, with roughly 2.31 billion global streams annually — generating about $15.5 million in revenue.
I'd also like to point out that whole "reportedly not every member is participating" bit. I wonder who's in and who's out, and if it'll affect the band at all? If any of this goes through, of course.
As for as new Slipknot music goes, it's coming! According to Slipknot guitarist Jim Root in an interview with the Turning Wrenches podcast this May, he was certainly working on it: "And right now I'm looking at six [songs] and I have four more that I'm working on. And I'd like to have 20 or 25 before we actually start doing pre-production and rewriting and rearranging and Corey putting lyrics on everything. So, no tours coming up. It's probably gonna be a while before we do another U.S. run or a European run."
