If you have time for some reading, here's a really great article from a few years ago that talks about licensing in video games and how complicated it can be. Depending on what exactly you want to do with the music in/with the game, a developer could be looking at having to deal with more than one license. I imagine it could get expensive very easily.
Comment on Spec Ops: The Line permanently removed from Steam and other digital stores
lolcatnip@reddthat.com 11 months agoCouldn’t they just insist on a perpetual license?
CharlesReed@kbin.social 11 months ago
KingThrillgore@lemmy.ml 11 months ago
Pyrocynical used Midge Ure’s cover of “The Man Who Sold the World” in a video covering Half-Life 2 or a mod of it, and that meant Midge needed a cut, the original writer David Bowie (RIP) needed a cut, Kobalt Songs, who owns the rights for Midge’s cover needed a cut, Warner Chappal, who owns the Bowie library needed a cut, ASCAP needed a cut, PRS needed a cut…
You only get a small fraction of who owns what off SongView. It’s a removed. Pyro paid $24,000 for the sync rights.
Fiivemacs@lemmy.ca 11 months ago
Or just remove the music or whatever…
KingThrillgore@lemmy.ml 11 months ago
Unfortunately, there’s some thematically appropriate uses in the game and this is sometimes applicable in other media.
KingThrillgore@lemmy.ml 11 months ago
Perpetual sync rights licenses aren’t unheard of, but typically these require an ongoing revenue split of sales or a big up front. More often than not, limited rights are used to save scratch and because its going to be for a set period, like 30 days (for an ad campaign).
In fact, I wouldn’t be shocked if Take Two opted for perpetual, and decided they won’t afford a per unit sale and pulled the game to stop paying.
lolcatnip@reddthat.com 11 months ago
So basically music rights owners are too greedy and demand so much money for a reasonable license they have publishers can’t afford it? Sounds about right.