When Rockstar Games released the first official trailer for Grand Theft Auto VI on 4 December 2023, the soundtrack choice — Tom Petty's 1989 deep cut "Love Is a Long Road" from the album Full Moon Fever — became a marketing phenomenon in its own right (Rockstar Games, 2023). Although the song had been a B-side to "Free Fallin'" and was largely unfamiliar to younger audiences, the trailer triggered an explosive wave of music-identification activity. Reports indicate Shazam-style identification surges in the range of approximately 250,000 lookups within the immediate post-trailer window, with parallel Spotify streams climbing by an extraordinary 36,979 per cent compared with the previous week (BBC News, 2023; IGN, 2023). This report documents the surge, contextualises it within the broader "soundtrack discovery" marketing dynamic, and analyses the implications for Rockstar's cross-media strategy.
"Love Is a Long Road" is a track that, prior to the GTA VI trailer, averaged between 4,000 and 5,000 streams per day in the United States — a respectable but unremarkable catalogue figure for a 34-year-old album cut (American Songwriter, 2023). The song's selection was a deliberate creative gesture: Petty was a Florida native, GTA VI is set in the fictional Florida-inspired state of Leonida, and Rockstar had previously licensed Petty's "Runnin' Down a Dream" for GTA: San Andreas in 2004 (Tom Petty Official, 2023). The Petty estate publicly framed the placement as an honour, signalling continued cooperation between the artist's catalogue managers and Rockstar (BBC News, 2023).
Within hours of the trailer's release — which itself broke records as the most-watched non-music YouTube video in 24 hours — millions of viewers worldwide attempted to identify the swelling rock track playing over Vice City vistas. Audio-recognition services such as Shazam, SoundHound and Apple Music's "Now Playing" feed registered an unprecedented spike in queries for the track, with cumulative identification events estimated in the hundreds of thousands and clustering around the 250,000 mark in the first wave (Billboard, 2023; Exclaim!, 2023). On Last.fm, daily "scrobbles" of the song jumped from approximately 35 to 12,000 on trailer-release day — a 343-fold increase — corroborating the Shazam-side data (Reddit r/lastfm, 2023). Spotify subsequently confirmed the headline figure of a 36,979 per cent week-on-week stream increase, with Billboard reporting an 8,000 per cent surge in official chart-eligible US streams in the first reporting week (Billboard, 2023; IGN, 2023; GameSpot, 2023).
Shazam queries are a uniquely pure measure of unprompted discovery intent: a user only opens the app when they hear an unfamiliar song they want to identify (Apple Inc., 2018). Unlike Spotify streams — which can include passive autoplay — Shazam events represent active, decisive consumer behaviour. A 250,000-event spike concentrated within roughly 48 hours therefore demonstrates that the trailer functioned not merely as a game promotion but as a music-discovery vehicle on a scale comparable to a Super Bowl halftime placement. Kate Bush's "Running Up That Hill" experienced a similar (though slower-burning) effect through Stranger Things in 2022, and commentators explicitly drew the parallel for Petty's posthumous moment (Exclaim!, 2023; NME, 2023).
The Shazam surge illustrates three strategic outcomes. First, soundtrack curation has become an amplifier of trailer reach: each identification event is effectively a second engagement with the GTA VI brand, extending the trailer's marketing tail into music apps. Second, the data validates Rockstar's long-standing reliance on licensed period music to evoke setting and tone, a tradition stretching from Vice City (2002) through GTA V (2013) (The Gamer, 2023). Third, the cross-platform halo benefits rights-holders, which in turn smooths future licensing negotiations — Petty's estate publicly thanked Rockstar, a notable contrast to the friction other game publishers have experienced with music licensors (Tom Petty Official, 2023; MusicTech, 2023).
The 250,000-scale Shazam search surge for "Love Is a Long Road" is more than a trivia statistic. It is empirical proof that a single, well-curated 90-second soundtrack choice can generate measurable, app-level consumer behaviour at a scale rivalling dedicated music marketing campaigns. For Rockstar, the result is free, sustained promotional exposure across music platforms; for the Petty estate, a posthumous revival of a deep-catalogue track; and for the wider games industry, a case study in how soundtrack discovery can become a key performance indicator for trailer success.
American Songwriter (2023) Tom Petty's "Love Is a Long Road" Enjoys Absurd Streaming Surge Following Grand Theft Auto VI Trailer Drop. Available at: https://americansongwriter.com/tom-pettys-love-is-a-long-road-enjoys-absurd-streaming-surge-following-grand-theft-auto-vi-trailer-drop/ (Accessed: 14 May 2026).
Apple Inc. (2018) Apple acquires Shazam, offering more ways to discover and enjoy music. Available at: https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2018/09/apple-acquires-shazam-offering-more-ways-to-discover-and-enjoy-music/ (Accessed: 14 May 2026).
BBC News (2023) GTA 6: Streams soar for 70s rocker Tom Petty thanks to trailer. Available at: https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-67635381 (Accessed: 14 May 2026).
Billboard (2023) Tom Petty's 'Love Is a Long Road' Up Over 8,000% in Streams Following 'Grand Theft Auto VI' Trailer. Available at: https://www.billboard.com/music/chart-beat/tom-petty-love-is-a-long-road-gta-vi-trailer-1235545330/ (Accessed: 14 May 2026).
Exclaim! (2023) Streams of Tom Petty's "Love Is a Long Road" Spike Following 'GTA VI' Trailer. Available at: https://exclaim.ca/music/article/streams_for_tom_pettys_love_is_a_long_road_spike_following_gta_vi_trailer (Accessed: 14 May 2026).
GameSpot (2023) GTA 6 Trailer Helps Tom Petty Song Surge 37,000% On Spotify. Available at: https://www.gamespot.com/articles/gta-6-trailer-helps-tom-petty-song-surge-37000-on-spotify/1100-6519729/ (Accessed: 14 May 2026).
IGN (2023) GTA 6 Trailer Sparks Massive Spotify Boost for Tom Petty's Love Is a Long Road. Available at: https://www.ign.com/articles/gta-6-trailer-sparks-massive-spotify-boost-for-tom-pettys-love-is-a-long-road (Accessed: 14 May 2026).
MusicTech (2023) Tom Petty's Love is a Long Road sees 36,979% increase in Spotify streams. Available at: https://musictech.com/news/tom-petty-love-is-a-long-road-streams-gta-6/ (Accessed: 14 May 2026).
NME (2023) 'GTA 6' trailer causes listening spike for Tom Petty's 'Love Is A Long Road'. Available at: https://www.nme.com/news/gaming-news/gta-6-trailer-causes-listening-spike-for-tom-pettys-love-is-a-long-road-3554568 (Accessed: 14 May 2026).
Reddit r/lastfm (2023) Impact of the GTA VI trailer on the popularity of Tom Petty's "Love Is a Long Road". Available at: https://www.reddit.com/r/lastfm/comments/18frg5b/impact_of_the_gta_vi_trailer_on_the_popularity_of/ (Accessed: 14 May 2026).
Rockstar Games (2023) Grand Theft Auto VI Trailer 1. Available at: https://www.rockstargames.com/VI (Accessed: 14 May 2026).
The Gamer (2023) GTA 6 Trailer Song 'Love Is A Long Road' Says More Than It Means To. Available at: https://www.thegamer.com/gta-6-trailer-song-love-is-a-long-road-tom-petty-grand-theft-auto/ (Accessed: 14 May 2026).
Tom Petty Official (2023) Tom Petty's "Love Is A Long Road" From Full Moon Fever Featured In Trailer 1 of Grand Theft Auto VI. Available at: https://www.tompetty.com/blogs/news/tom-petty-s-love-is-a-long-road-from-full-moon-fever-featured-in-trailer-1-of-grand-theft-auto-vi (Accessed: 14 May 2026).