Satyricon Vocalist Sold His Wine Business for $5.4 Million

Know how we’re always saying that metal musicians shouldn’t rely on their bands as their sole source of income because even “successful” bands are not nearly as successful as they seem? Well, if you didn’t wanna hear it from Periphery’s Misha Mansoor, who’s been preaching the subject for years, take it from someone decidedly more tr00/cvlt: Satryicon vocalist Sigurd “Satyr” Wongraven, who just sold a majority stake in his wine business for $5.4 million.

Satyr launched his wine company, Wongraven Wines, in 2012, and in 2019 sold 90% of the company to Vingruppen, a subsidiary of wine and spirits producer Arcus. Financial terms of that deal have recently come to light, and the Norwegian newspaper Dagens Naeringsliv reports that Satyr grossed 51.3 Norwegian Kroner on the deal, equivalent to roughly $5,444,872.73 USD, according to xe.com.

Satyr said in 2019 that he was focused primarily on making the best Italian and German wines possible, not on the money, explaining:

“There are far too many people thinking about what to achieve commercially. They will sell so and so much next year and so much more in two years. There is not one cell in my body that works that way. 
I would rather think; what do I want to create?”

This time it seems he wanted to create a big fat paycheck! Not that I blame him. Let’s just call a spade a spade and admit that so often musicians who say “it’s all about the art, maaaaan!” are full of crap. Not that there’s anything wrong with making money… let’s just be honest about it, ya know?

Vingruppen plans to market the wine beyond its base in Norway, looking next to expand in Sweden, although the wine is already available in select location there as well as the U.S., Italy and Germany.

Read the full report here.