Moby offers free production music

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Moby is offering his catalog of production tracks as a free music library for student film projects and non-profits.

We’d put this in our “Wish We’d Thought Of That” category, but, ahhh, yeah…. we already did. Check the last question at our FAQ.

All of our production music is available, for no fee, if you are a student or a qualifying non-profit… and a few of you have taken us up on our offer. We’re simply hoping to make friends and fans, and, as always, we’re on the lookout for quality productions in which to place our music.

To offer any commentary beyond this announcement could be a tad precarious, as we’re on record for being less-than-interested in producing a Moby-esque track ever again (or Coldplay, for that matter) at the behest of yet another ad agency looking to help their client align themselves directly with 1999.

And the charity angle he’s tying in is certainly noble and worth some sort of karmic credit.

But we’ve been fans of Moby… for his (former?) punk aesthetic, for his commercial success (in both meanings of the word ‘commercial’), and certainly for his outspoken and candid views on politics, the environment, animal rights, and religion (frequently still offered at his blog).

Our frustration with his music stems more from the lack of imagination that some of his fans in the ad world appear to have when looking for music for their latest spot. We realize some of the blame lay with their end client, whose capriciousness and indecisiveness have doomed campaign after campaign, skyrocketing their commercial right to the juicy, safe, mediocre, mid-america middle.

And now we say this… (to further ensure that Mr. Richard Melville Hall will never take our calls - unfortunately - because as we said previously, we’re fans) :

The music he’s offering for free just ain’t all that good. The majority of the songs sound like lifeless demos that couldn’t even find a home on a collection of B-sides.

Oh well… that’s been our opinion of the vast wasteland populated by music library after music library after music library for the past decade, as well.

Welcome to the party, Moby. You’ve successfully distributed a few dozen “songs” in an effort to join the world of free production music. Now the real work begins… getting inspired to write something emotionally engaging… keeping your catalog up to date… dealing with the endless requests for tracks that sound like Moby… er, wait… you’ve got that one covered. [dh]

UPDATE 3/12/08 - Moby speaks on his Gratis project at SXSW. More at LA Times Extended Play.