Game music label under fire over late royalty payments
Some claim the label has missed nearly two year's worth of payments
Video game music label and publisher Materia Collective have come under fire after reports that they've missed up to two year's worth of royalty payments to their artists. Last night, one of the musicians behind Celeste's B-Sides (remixed songs from the game's OST) claimed the music label hadn't paid him for sales or streams since 2019. Materia Collective followed up with an apology shortly after, acknowledging their mistake, but now more artists have come forward saying that Materia have failed to make payments to them too.
"I have not received any payment from [Materia Collective] for the sales and streams of my Celeste B-Sides track since July 26, 2019, when they began handling the release's payments," 2 Mello posted on Twitter.
He added that three other B-Sides artists told him they hadn't seen payments from the label since July, and despite contacting them mulitple times in private, he hadn't heard from Materia since November.
Materia were quick to apologise on social media, saying this was unintentional. However, it looks like this isn't an isolated mistake. Since 2 Mello came forward, more artists have claimed similar issues with Materia's lack of communication and missed payments.
Laura Intravia, whose music published by Materia includes remixes of Final Fantasy VIII tracks, said she's missing over a year's worth of royalty payments. Danilo Ciaffi, who's arranged music tributes to Supergiant Games, claimed he's not had any communication from Materia in over two years. And Zed composer, Alex Parish, said he hadn't heard from the label since his album went live last year.
Materia Collective have since responded to the wider accusations too, claiming they "didn't realise just how widespread this was." They acknowledged that they messed up though, and said they'll be working on paying artists what they're owed "ASAP".
Materia added that if any artists have concerns about payments, they can contact them at artists@materiacollective.com. Here's hoping these talented folk get the money they're owed sooner rather than later.
