Martyn Ware, founder member of the Human League and Heaven 17 and all round electropop royalty, has gone public with his dissatisfaction at how little games’ companies pay for synchs.
He’s told games company Rockstar to “go fuck yourself” after being offered $7500 (around £5700) for the use of Heaven 17’s huge 1983 hit Temptation in the next edition of the Grand Theft Auto series, Grand Theft Auto 6.
In a post on Twitter/X he said "I was recently contacted by my publishers on behalf of Rockstar Games (regarding) the possibility of using Temptation on the new Grand Theft Auto 6. Naturally excited about the immense wealth that was about to head my way, I scrolled to the bottom of the email (regarding) the offer…"
"IT WAS $7500 - for a buyout of any future royalties from the game - forever…" he added in a follow-up tweet. "To put this in context, Grand Theft Auto 6 (sic) grossed, wait for it… $8.6 BILLION.
"Ah, but think of the exposure…," he added, sarcastically, before ending: "Go fuck yourself".
Ware’s tweets brought an array of interesting responses which betray something of a generation gap. Some commenters, perhaps unaware of Ware’s five-decade long career in music, suggested that he’d ‘fucked up’ by turning down an offer of such lavish generosity.
In reply, he insisted: "I haven't 'fucked up'. I've worked in artist rights advocacy for 20 years. I know the game. This (is) iniquitous."
"For those claiming (Heaven 17) should have accepted the extremely low offer for buyout for Temptation in GTA6 claiming 'increased exposure'… an extra one million streams generates each writer a pitiful $1k each.” he added.
The conversation moved on to the question of what would constitute a ‘reasonable’ offer. Ware suggested "$75K a buyout - or no advance required for a reasonable royalty." Rockstar apparently refused this.
An example of genius responses I’ve got to rejecting a pittance to let Temptation be used in GTA6…🫣 pic.twitter.com/TvZHdwuLbhSeptember 8, 2024
As ever, things deteriorated from hereon in, with a number of commenters claiming that Ware was somehow ‘greedy’. He ended the exchange flagging up one of the more angry responses and replying: “An example of (the) genius responses I’ve got to rejecting a pittance to let Temptation be used in GTA6.”
It’s a fascinating exchange which raises a whole load of questions – do Gen Z now regard games brands as cultural gods in the same way rock stars once were? Has Spotify conditioned people to think that music should somehow be ‘free’, and thus musicians should be grateful for any crumbs that spill from the tech table? And have people really bought the spurious argument that ‘exposure’ is a fair way to reward creativity? Really?
