Dragonforce Got Paid Peanuts by Guitar Hero for “Through the Fire and the Flames”

Though power metallers Dragonforce already had some umph behind them when their track “Through the Fire and the Flames” was used in Guitar Hero, its appearance in the game was what vaulted them into households around the world. But now, in a new Tiktok video, guitarist Herman Li reveals how much the band got paid for the game’s use of the song — and damn, it’s a lot less than we thought!

In a post on his Tiktok, Li revealed the following (as transcribed by The PRP):

“How many millions of dollars did I get? 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.”

Look, three large isn’t exactly chump change — but given how important that song became for that band, couldn’t they have added a bonus structure or something? We’re glad Herman’s so chill about it, but damn, dude, you deserve more scratch than that!

Check out the video below:

@hermanli tens of dollars ???? #throughthefireandflames #guitarhero #guitartok #musician #guitarist #guitarra #LaysGoldenDuet ♬ Through the Fire and Flames – Dragonforce