Martyn Ware of Sheffield-based 80s synthpop band Heaven 17 revealed on social media this week that he was offered $7,500 for the rights to hit Temptation, which he promptly refused. Presumably this $7,500 will be offered to all three original writers of the song, although that’s not immediately clear.
“I was recently contacted by my publishers on behalf of Rockstar regarding the possibility of using Temptation on the new GTA 6,” he wrote on X (or Twitter). “Naturally excited about the immense wealth that was about to head my way, I scrolled to the bottom of the email. It was $7,500 – for a buyout of any future royalties from the game – forever.”
He went on to point to the enormous sales of the GTA franchise overall, helping to illustrate why he feels this offer is an insult. From our perspective, getting your music in a game like GTA 6 would effectively guarantee future royalties from an entire new generation – especially with a song as undeniably catchy as Temptation.
Ware, to his credit, does acknowledge this: “Ah, but think of the exposure,” he continued. “Go f*ck yourself. I’ve worked in artist rights advocacy for 20 years [and] I know the game. This is iniquitous.”
In the UK specifically, Temptation still gets air time on the radio today, having topped the charts in 1983.
It’s possible this may just be an initial offer from Rockstar, which it’ll increase in future negotiations. However, if you consider that GTA 5 had around 500 songs in it, we imagine there has to be a cap to how much it can realistically spend on licensed music – even when the series has brought in billions over the years.
[source x.com, via resetera.com]