Summary
Rockstar Games has reportedly attempted to lowball an established band for rights to use one of their songs inGrand Theft Auto 6. TheGTA 6developer is said to have offered a four-digit sum for the privilege, which insulted the band to the point that they opted to make their rejection public.
The fifth numbered entry in Rockstar’s long-running open-world action-adventure series incorporates more than 440 songs spread across 16 radio stations. TheGTA 6soundtrackis also expected to feature hundreds of tracks.
British Musician Stunned by Rockstar’s $7,500 Offer for GTA 6 Song Rights
And while its tracklist is more or less a complete unknown at the moment, it would appear thatTemptationby British synth-pop band Heaven 17 won’t be on it. That’s according to Heaven 17 front man Martyn Ware, who took to Twitter on September 7 to reveal that his publisher recently contacted him on behalf of Rockstar about the possibility of makingTemptationpart ofGTA 6’s Vice City music scene. Much to his surprise, the company offered only $7,500 in exchange for indefinite rights to use the song in the upcoming game. While the exact wording of Ware’s official response is unclear, the 68-year-old musician did not leave social media users guessing about what he thought of it; “go f*** yourself,” he wrote on Twitter.
Rockstar’s Offer for Using ‘Temptation’ in GTA 6 Was 10 Times Too Low, Author Says
His comments sparked backlash from a vocal group of social media users, who tried to argue with Ware that he should have accepted the offer because of all theexposure thatGTA 6would ostensibly generatefor his musical opus. The musician rejected that notion as misguided at best, noting that one million extra streams on Spotify only results in about $1,000 in additional earnings for each songwriter involved in a given track. For reference, Ware co-wroteTemptationalong with four other artists. Asked about what kind of offer he would deem fair, the Sheffield-born synth pioneer said he would have accepted $75,000 per song buyout, thus indicating that Rockstar’s offer was ten times too low.
Alternatively, Ware said he would also have been open to “reasonable” royalties with no advance necessary. This is a somewhat less realistic scenario, as offering royalties is an essentially non-existent practice in video game music licensing.
WhileTemptation, which was a big hit in the UK in the ’80s, doesn’t seem likely to be included inGTA 6, the insights that Ware shared do indicate that Rockstar might be trying to switch up its licensing practices. Finite music licensing agreements are the reason why the company’s past re-releases likeGTA: The Trilogy — The Definitive Editionare missing some songscompared to the products that they are based on. Therefore, the notion of Rockstar pursuing complete song usage rights buyouts suggests that the group is now trying to be more forward-thinking in trying to preserve its games in their original form.
Grand Theft Auto 6
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