Rockstar licensed more than 240 songs for GTA V’s soundtrack, but it’s unlikely that they’ll be able to repeat that for GTA VI…

Martyn Ware of the band Heaven 17 has claimed that his band was offered just $7,500 to have their song featured on the Grand Theft Auto VI soundtrack. In his post on X, Ware claimed that Heaven 17’s label was approached by Rockstar to have their song Temptation (see the bottom of the article) featured on the GTA VI soundtrack.

“I was recently contacted by my publishers on behalf of Rockstar Games re the possibility of using Temptation on the new Grand Theft Auto 6,” Ware wrote.

“Naturally excited about the immense wealth that was about to head my way, I scrolled to the bottom of the email re the offer…”

“IT WAS $7500 – for a buyout of any future royalties from the game – forever…”

“To put this in context, Grand Theft Auto 6 grossed, wait for it… $8.6 BILLION Ah, but think of the exposure… Go f*** yourself.”

GTA VI hasn’t been released yet, so it hasn’t brought anything. It is likely that Ware was referring to the broader interpretation of the Grand Theft Auto franchise, the revenues of the previous games.

Grand Theft Auto soundtracks are often lengthy, multi-genre tracklists that populate the game’s radio stations. GTA V licensed more than 240 songs for its soundtrack. In fact, Rockstar originally wanted to license more than 900 songs! In the end, even the publisher considered this too much…

Grand Theft Auto VI will be released in 2025 for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.

Rockstar released the first official trailer for the game earlier this year, which garnered more than 90 million views in 24 hours.

Source: X

IT WAS $7500 – for a buyout of any future royalties from the game – forever…

To put this in context, Grand Theft Auto 6 grossed, wait for it…

$8.6 BILLION

Ah, but think of the exposure…

Go fuck yourself

— Martyn Ware 🦉 (@martynware) September 7, 2024