The financial model for a band’s success has changed a great deal in the past 10-15 years with the sharp fall of physical album sales and the rise of digital streaming services. Concert ticket prices have gone way up and meet-and-greets have been added as ways for bands to make up the financial slack in money that previously was made through CD sales and record contracts. Another way bands stay financially viable is through licensing their music to various places including commercials, movies, television and video games. The “Guitar Hero” franchise was one of the most notable ways bands got their music in front of fans, and Dragonforce had their song, “Through the Fire and the Flames,” featured, which vaulted them into households around the globe.
Recently, Dragonforce guitarist Herman Li revealed how much the band got paid for the game’s use of the song, and given the success of “Guitar Hero,” it seems shockingly low. “How many millions of dollars did I get?” Li said in a TikTok video. “Well, I’ll tell you this. ‘Guitar Hero‘ actually only paid a one-off fee—a one-off fee—to use the song. So I’m thinking a little less than $3,000. Maybe even less. I can’t remember, but let’s split that between the band members, you gotta pay the manager, the record label, the accountant… whoever’s involved. It’s actually barely any money. I don’t even remember the amount I even cashed in on that one. But what ‘Guitar Hero‘ did do for us and a lot of other bands was present guitar music to the world. At that time guitar music wasn’t really that popular. And letting the audience hear our music and decide if they like it or not was really special, because we definitely don’t play music that fits the radio. You’re not gonna hear seven minutes of shredding melodic metal fast on the radio. So thank you ‘Guitar Hero‘ for helping musicians, guitar players around the world and gamers have an awesome time.”
“Guitar Hero” was first released in 2005 and players used a guitar-shaped controller to simulate playing primarily lead, bass guitar, and rhythm guitar across numerous songs. The series had 25 releases and it spawned the spin-offs “DJ Hero” and “Band Hero.” Around 3,000 songs were featured in all of the games including tracks from Motörhead, Ozzy Osbourne, Joan Jett, Black Sabbath, Megadeth, White Zombie, ZZ Top, Avenged Sevenfold, Aerosmith, Van Halen, Slipknot, Guns N’ Roses, Metallica and many more. Metallica and Aerosmith also got their own spin-offs in the series, “Guitar Hero: Metallica” and “Guitar Hero: Aerosmith.”
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