Martyn Ware tells Rockstar Games to do one!

[Minusorange]

Lifetime rights over the song, no thanks.

Lifetime rights to use the song in the game, so they don't have to remove all the music when the license expires in x years

$7500 seems a low ball offer when you consider Rockstar reportedly have set aside $2billion for the game budget

 

[adam cool dude]

Yeah I think his streaming income would have increased so I think it's a fail on his part.....

I think some of these people get detached from reality too. People used to get far more money back in the day compared to what they get now mainly thanks to the internet but on the flip side not many people can claim to get paid for a body of work they did 40 years ago!

 

[d_brennen]

I can understand why he didn't like the offer but it's a little short sighted business wise imo

 

[GreatAuk]

Playing the world's smallest violin for Martyn Ware, only being offered $7500 to let a game company put a song he made literally 40 years ago into their game which is almost guaranteed to be a huge cultural event (and will probably also result in more streaming plays outside the game etc).

Most people would bite your hand off of you offered them $7500 so you could use some 40 year old piece of work they did in your game.

Would be entirely fair for Martyn to reject the offer if he thinks it's a bad deal or doesn't want it in the game for some reason, but don't go public expecting me to feel sympathy for him lol

 

[mattyfez]

I think I'd insist on a percentage from sales of the game..

For example 7,500 is 0.0001% of 8,600,000,000

I would also push for more, personally 0.0001% seems a bit low ball... I don't know what would be fair, maybe 0.0005% or something.

 

[Stumble Bum]

Seems like the figure was in the ballpark, it'd likely be just a song used on one of the car radios. With a bit of haggling he'd easily get $10,000 I reckon. Sounds reasonable for a song that will play a bit part in the game and is 40 years old. I'm sure there are many many other songs Rockstar could get for less.

I doubt Rockstar will lose any sleep over this.

 

[dowie]

$7500 seems a low ball offer when you consider Rockstar reportedly have set aside $2billion for the game budget

Why does it?

I don't really understand that mentality - should everyone who is billing them feel entitled to a bigger piece of the pie - the office cleaners usually earn £15 an hour but it seems a bit low when you consider Rockstar have a budget of $2 billion... so maybe they should pay the cleaners £30 an hour?

Pointing at [big number] and saying X feels low in comparison seems like nonsense really, you need to know what the going rate is for this sort of thing and whether it's reasonable in that context - not just take the attitude of well the budget is big so they should be slack about budgeting and splash money everywhere.

 

[Minusorange]

Why does it?

Because $7500 is what they were offering to license music for GTA 4 which had less than 10% of the GTA 6 budget

 

[StriderX]

Why does it?

I don't really understand that mentality - should everyone who is billing them feel entitled to a bigger piece of the pie - the office cleaners usually earn £15 an hour but it seems a bit low when you consider Rockstar have a budget of $2 billion... so maybe they should pay the cleaners £30 an hour?

Pointing at [big number] and saying X feels low in comparison seems like nonsense really, you need to know what the going rate is for this sort of thing and whether it's reasonable in that context - not just take the attitude of well the budget is big so they should be slack about budgeting and splash money everywhere.

Well yes they should get a bigger slice rather it all going straight to the top to furnish someones yacht.

 

[dowie]

Because $7500 is what they were offering to license music for GTA 4

See that's a more reasonable argument than just [poins at big figure for the overall budget]. But have the rights to songs for this sort of usage changed significantly since then - it's not necessarily the case that they've followed inflation? This is an AAA game and I guess you'd expect a bigger audience for it but that kinda works both ways, good for the artist too, they don't know for sure whether a game/film will flop or not - though with a big franchise there's less of a risk.

 

[dowie]

Well yes they should get a bigger slice rather it all going straight to the top to furnish someones yacht.

Why?

 

[Raymond Lin]

Life time rights? For a song?

Errrr no. Not for a small game and not for one of the largest game franchise in history.

 

[adam cool dude]

Life time rights? For a song?

Errrr no. Not for a small game and not for one of the largest game franchise in history.

If I was worth 50 million I would do it for free to have my song forever immortalised in the biggest game franchise in the world. It would be a honor that they chose me after all these years to represent in GTA 6.

There are songs in GTA:VC that I still listen to this day and I am pretty sure they would have gone right over my head had they not been included. The guy is a typical boomer who has no idea how the world works these days.

 

[Stu999]

If I was worth 50 million I would do it for free to have my song forever immortalised in the biggest game franchise in the world.

It’s already immortalised, a massively welly known song.

 

[robfosters]

I still listen to this today, possibly one of the most iconic scenes in the whole game

 

[Devilman]

It’s already immortalised, a massively welly known song.

To a couple of generations, sure.

The majority of which are not GTA players.

This would have introduced the song to new generations which in turn would listen to it on YT / Spotify etc...

Seems short sighted tbh.

 

[Rroff]

For an iconic song and buying out royalties from the game $7500 is insulting to be honest. Be different if this was a hobby/casual composer looking for a break.

Playing the world's smallest violin for Martyn Ware, only being offered $7500 to let a game company put a song he made literally 40 years ago into their game which is almost guaranteed to be a huge cultural event (and will probably also result in more streaming plays outside the game etc).

Most people would bite your hand off of you offered them $7500 so you could use some 40 year old piece of work they did in your game.

Would be entirely fair for Martyn to reject the offer if he thinks it's a bad deal or doesn't want it in the game for some reason, but don't go public expecting me to feel sympathy for him lol

It has 10s of millions of plays on the platforms it is on and healthy monthly activity by the looks of it.

 

[Raymond Lin]

If I was worth 50 million I would do it for free to have my song forever immortalised in the biggest game franchise in the world. It would be a honor that they chose me after all these years to represent in GTA 6.

There are songs in GTA:VC that I still listen to this day and I am pretty sure they would have gone right over my head had they not been included. The guy is a typical boomer who has no idea how the world works these days.

complete opposite IMO, if I were penniless and need that $7500 today so I could put a roof over my head, then I would. If I were a millionaire….no way. Doing it for clout? Pleaseeeeee. Not a chance.

 

[adidan]

I mean, who cares?

 

[Resident]

For an iconic song and buying out royalties from the game $7500 is insulting to be honest. Be different if this was a hobby/casual composer looking for a break.



It has 10s of millions of plays on the platforms it is on and healthy monthly activity by the looks of it.

31.5 million as of this post, including the remaster, according to Spotify. Can't see to find Apple stats.

At current revenue rates that's ~ £108,000 before the split between the other writes and the recording artists. If we take that as 4, the three writers & the female vocalist it's about £36k


Assuming GTA6 sells the same units as GTA5, 200 million and IF the song played ONLY once (never happen) & paid at streaming rates then the share would be worth just over £172,000