Heaven 17 Reject Rockstar's $7,500 Offer To Include 'Temptation' In GTA VI's Soundtrack

Martyn Ware, of 80's synth-pop band Heaven 17, posted on Twitter that he and Rockstar Games couldn't come to an agreement on a fee after his promoters requested $75,000 for use of their song.

Update

In further tweets, Martyn explained he'd left out a fairly important detail - that the $7,500 offer from Rockstar was to each of the 3 song writers - putting the total cost for the song at $22,500. While it's still a low amount in relation to what the game is expected to make, $22,500 for a 40 year old song which is likely to be background noise on the games' radio seems a lot more fair than first reported.

To put it in perspective, many of Rockstar's junior devs and testers who have worked on the game full time for years won't be paid an awful lot more for their annual salary. Either way, I can't see any way the band is included in any future Rockstar Games soundtracks after his outburst. There are millions of songs out there and Rockstar will comfortably find another to fit into GTA VI's world without any of this drama.


 

Original Article

In a series of Tweets, Martyn, a founding member of The Human League amongst other bands from the 70's and 80's, let slip that Rockstar Games had requested the use of their song "Temptation" and would be willing to pay a fee of $7,500 for a buyout of all future royalties from the game.





He points out that GTA 6 - meaning GTA V - grossed $8.6 Billion, therefore making the offer, with no royalties seem very low, relatively speaking. Exposure doesn't pay the bills afterall...

Although the headlines will be on his final quote, telling Rockstar to "go fuck yourself", in further tweets he clarified that his publisher did attempt to negotiate with Rockstar Games and requested $75,000 for the song with no future royalties, but Rockstar wouldn't budge on their initial offer.



While it's sad that an agreement couldn't be reached, artists are entirely within their rights to sell their creations for whatever they believe they're worth. Many other Twitter users also made valid points, explaining that the game will feature hundreds of other songs which could cost Rockstar Games millions in licensing fees. Although many industry experts believe it will be a resounding success, there's no guarantee the new game will make anywhere near the money brought in by GTA V.

Bands will certainly gain exposure after being played on the radio in GTA VI. Tom Petty's "Love is a Long Road" received a 37,000% increase in plays after the first trailer and many fans of the game have pointed out they have songs on their own Spotify and Apple Music playlists after hearing them on previous GTA games.

While streaming services offer very low revenue to artists (around $1,000 for 1 million streams), any bands featured in the GTA VI soundtrack are sure to pick up new fans, and who can say how much that's worth in the long run, however it sounds like we won't be hearing Heaven 17 on the game's airwaves.

If you want to watch the video and listen to the song to get an idea of the type of music Rockstar are looking to include on the GTA VI Soundtrack, check it out below.