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Marty O'Donnell found in contempt of court over use of Destiny assets

Wrexis

Wrexis

Member
Nov 4, 2017
21,387
www.eurogamer.net

Former Bungie composer Marty O'Donnell found in contempt of court over use of Destiny assets

Composer Marty O'Donnell has been found in contempt of court over his use of Destiny assets and now owes Bungie tens of…
www.eurogamer.net www.eurogamer.net

In April this year, Bungie served the celebrated composer behind the original Halo music with contempt of court papers over videos related to Destiny that were uploaded to O'Donnell's YouTube channel and other platforms.
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Bungie said O'Donnell, who was Bungie's veteran audio director until he was fired in April 2014, was ordered to return all material related to Music of the Spheres and Destiny, and was blocked from sharing or performing it as part of a 2015 injunction.

Bungie said "all material" includes not just Music of the Spheres in their final state, but all versions, components and variations of the tracks - that is, all material involved in any way in the creation of Music of the Spheres and Destiny.
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I mean, seems pretty clear cut he was in the wrong.
I'm glad his YouTube Channel hasn't been taken offline though. There's some stuff up there about Halo's history which needs preservation.
 
ciddative

ciddative

Member
Apr 5, 2018
4,636
Always a shame to see talented people that have done great work you really enjoyed act like dicks
 
Señor Sepia

Señor Sepia

Member
Aug 2, 2020
867
What
I really like Marty and he seems like a good guy to his fans, but he had a really shitty attitude about bungie and his work over the last few years, also the whole fallujah stuff doesn't help.

I hope he learns his lesson and gets back to working on his own project.
 
Juan

Juan

Member
Oct 28, 2017
2,443
Bungie is really making him dirty, that's impressive how they seem to hate him since he won his last trial against them.

While they had their issue regarding work process and environment, it is sad to see how the Studio and Marty are now going to each other throat.

Like come on, he's not making any money from those assets, and he mostly just want to share the work he's done, let him in peace Bungie, you have much more important things to do and work on.
 

Mc.K

Member
May 22, 2020
120
ZanderEzekial said:
He was in the wrong in the sense that he violated the court order, but I would not call his actions wrong in the slightest. It's clear who the villain of this piece is, and it's not the guy that made the Halo theme.
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pretty much this. And yes, many posters here will remind everyone that Marty's is kinda of an asshole in many ways (which I agree too), but I wouldn't say he did anything morally wrong in releasing the destiny soundtrack. Whether he is legally in the wrong is another story.
 
OP
OP
Wrexis

Wrexis

Member
Nov 4, 2017
21,387
Juan said:
Like come on, he's not making any money from those assets, and he mostly just want to share the work he's done, let him in peace Bungie, you have much more important things to do and work on.
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He was though.

Bungie also noted O'Donnell posted tracks and an album titled "Sketches for MotS" to Bandcamp, where users were able to pay him a fee if they wanted to.
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Juan

Juan

Member
Oct 28, 2017
2,443
Wrexis said:
He was though.
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Sure, but that's not like he was selling the official release of MotS. I mean, you're definitely not wrong, I won't contest that, but it's like (I'm a Designer) I'm selling the sketches I've done for a product I designed. Those are elaboration sketches to help me fix my ideas.

I see what he did as tips you could lend him money for if you wanted to. Like, if he was releasing those for free but he had a Patreon, that would somehow the same (and it was somehow free, you weren't forced to pay to access those assets on bandcamp).

But yeah, technically, he was making money from those sketches, but again, we're not talking millions of $$. I'm not contesting the legal agreement he had, but I think that morally speaking, there's a wide margin between leaking albums he doesn't have rights on, and sketches he made to prepare those albums.

ZanderEzekial said:
He was in the wrong in the sense that he violated the court order, but I would not call his actions wrong in the slightest. It's clear who the villain of this piece is, and it's not the guy that made the Halo theme.
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7ac.jpg
 

Deleted member 1003

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
10,638
Bungie owns all the music he created for Destiny. He was told not to share anything and return it to Bungie. He didn't do that, so now he is in trouble. I don't care about morality here, he doesn't own, he shouldn't be doing it.
 
Juan

Juan

Member
Oct 28, 2017
2,443
FlikBlueLightning said:
I don't care about morality here, he doesn't own, he shouldn't be doing it.
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While legally and technically true, I personally think it's a sad way of thinking when you don't let an artist share his method of working and the behind the scene of his creation, and that's when morality should come in in my opinion.

But again, legally speaking, you're right, so there's no justice debate here.
 

Deleted member 1003

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10,638
Juan said:
While legally and technically true, I personally think it's a sad way of thinking when you don't let an artist share his method of working and the behind the scene of his creation, and that's when morality should come in in my opinion.

But again, legally speaking, you're right, so there's no justice debate here.
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I mean, he made music while he worked for a company. Company owns all content he makes, company wants control over distribution of content. Employee does his own thing and acts like the victim. It's doesn't matter if they choose to lock it but he has no say anymore.
 
TheXbox

TheXbox

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Oct 29, 2017
6,583
Marty created Music of the Spheres and Bungie did nothing with it for years. The only reason people ever heard it is because he freely distributed his work, which was otherwise gathering dust on a hard drive at Bungie's office. That would have been a tragic outcome for a score created by one of the medium's best composers. I'm glad I got to hear it and I won't be deleting my copy.
 

Deleted member 1003

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TheXbox said:
Marty created Music of the Spheres and Bungie did nothing with it for years. The only reason people ever heard it is because he freely distributed his work, which was otherwise gathering dust on a hard drive at Bungie's office. That would have been a tragic outcome for a score created by one of the medium's best composers. I'm glad I got to hear it and I won't be deleting my copy.
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Perhaps they will sell it now that can get him to stop. Marty is in the wrong here, always have been with this.
 
snipe_25

snipe_25

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Oct 27, 2017
2,176
TheXbox said:
Marty created Music of the Spheres and Bungie did nothing with it for years. The only reason people ever heard it is because he freely distributed his work, which was otherwise gathering dust on a hard drive at Bungie's office. That would have been a tragic outcome for a score created by one of the medium's best composers. I'm glad I got to hear it and I won't be deleting my copy.
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Unfortunately this is how IP works in our capitalist society. IP holders have the right to sit on their owned works :/
 
Juan

Juan

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Oct 28, 2017
2,443
FlikBlueLightning said:
Marty is in the wrong here, always have been with this.
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I don't think you can blame him when Bungie made him dirty and didn't released MotS at all, and eventually talk about this album because it somehow leaked online.

Again, legally speaking, you're 100% right. But I think this is the kind of context where morality should prevail above laws.

FlikBlueLightning said:
Company owns all content he makes, company wants control over distribution of content.
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True. As a Designer, I signed MDA documents which doesn't allow me to share the work I've done. This sucks, not because I want to make money of this, but mostly because I would like to share my process with younger designers so they can learn from it and have a concrete example of applicable lessons.

This is mostly what I'm referencing to when talking about morality vs law.

TheXbox said:
That would have been a tragic outcome for a score created by one of the medium's best composers. I'm glad I got to hear it and I won't be deleting my copy.
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I couldn't agree more with this. 👏
Did you get to hear his work on Bandcamp as well when it was available?
 
Fisty

Fisty

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Oct 25, 2017
20,366
He shouldn't try to make money off of it since he doesn't "own" the work, but man it rubs me the wrong way that he can't share his art with the world. There is no "legal" way to view/hear MotS, correct?
 
True Prophecy

True Prophecy

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Oct 28, 2017
1,925
TheXbox said:
Marty created Music of the Spheres and Bungie did nothing with it for years. The only reason people ever heard it is because he freely distributed his work, which was otherwise gathering dust on a hard drive at Bungie's office. That would have been a tragic outcome for a score created by one of the medium's best composers. I'm glad I got to hear it and I won't be deleting my copy.
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Agreed. It's incredible imo. And to me feels what I wish destiny was.

I'm glad I got to hear it even if all this stuff is super messy. And speaking nothing to the person that Marty is.
 
Oozer

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Oct 25, 2017
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FlikBlueLightning said:
Perhaps they will sell it now that can get him to stop. Marty is in the wrong here, always have been with this.
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Fisty said:
He shouldn't try to make money off of it since he doesn't "own" the work, but man it rubs me the wrong way that he can't share his art with the world. There is no "legal" way to view/hear MotS, correct?
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Bungie sold it as part of "Music of Destiny Vol. I" in 2018, though it doesn't appear to be available anymore.

 
Moose

Moose

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Barrel Cannon

Barrel Cannon

It's Pronounced "Aerith"
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Oct 25, 2017
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As much as I hate his political views and takes I don't think he was fully in the wrong. The way Bungie ended things and fought him seemed petty and like something they wanted to do to appease Activision because of that whole argument over Marty being vocal about Activision's trash destiny trailer music
 

Deleted member 2317

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Yeah, well, that's what a fucking "work for hire" means.

You: "But I want to break the rules"
Them: lol
 
Zips

Zips

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Oct 25, 2017
3,917
I'm sure with all the money he's saved after switching to Dollar Shave Club, he'll be able to pay Bungie without any issue.
 
bsigg

bsigg

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Oct 25, 2017
22,620
Known piece of shit found guilty of attempting to circumvent a court order and getting slapped is pretty funny.

The court has now imposed upon O'Donnell a number of sanctions, including a third-party forensic examination of his electronic devices in order to delete any assets relating to Destiny or Music of the Spheres.
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Conkerkid11

Conkerkid11

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
13,990
Uhh... Have any of you done anything for your job that you're proud of, got fired, and then proceeded to attempt to profit off the work you did that you knew while you were making it wasn't actually yours?

Kinda weird to see people trying to say he was morally in the right here.
 
Hikari

Hikari

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Oct 25, 2017
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Elysium
Guy used to be one of my favourite composers back when I frequented halo and the Bungie forums. It's sad to see this.
 
neoak

neoak

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Oct 25, 2017
15,385
He was posting Bungie stuff in the Halo era, and they gave him a pass. But when he started with the Destiny stuff, yeah no, specially after having signed a settlement.
 
Van Bur3n

Van Bur3n

Avenger
Oct 27, 2017
26,089
You make music for a company, it belongs to the company.

Why are y'all purposefully be daft just to defend a conservative monkey. Especially against Bungo who are one of the best devs morally.
 
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