Free Moby

Moby's obvious pronouncements and being a blowhard (the two are sorta connected) have made for easy targets, but we think of ourselves as fair and balanced; there are no hardline stances here. To wit, some Moby props: Manhattan Vegan has just done independent filmmakers a good turn. That is, if you like the sound of Moby.

Via Variety:

[Moby] is offering tracks to indie, nonprofit and student filmmakers for their works via his website mobygratis.com. If the films receive distribution, he asks for a small fee that will be donated to charity.

Currently, Moby is offering 44 unreleased tracks; 11 instrumental tracks from "Hotel," six from "Play: B Sides" and three from "18."

"The biggest complaint I hear from my friends who are indie filmmakers is that they can't get calls returned from record companies or that licensing quotes are outlandish," said Moby, who minored in film at SUNY Purchase. "Whenever I tell anyone about this, people keep expecting a catch. There isn't one."

Moby has been alerting film schools and some independent film organizations about the availability of the tracks. He intends to add another 20 tracks to the site later this month.

"I structured it so that it's impossible for me to make any money from it," he said.

Interesting. We're not currently working on any independent films (unless you count our Andrew W.K. outings), but thought we'd head over to mobygratis.com to see what's cooking (his line breaks, not ours):

hi,
i'll keep this brief.
this portion of moby.com, 'film music', is for independent and non-profit filmmakers, film students, and anyone in need of free music for their independent, non-profit film, video, or short.
to use the site you log in(or on?) and are then given a password.
you can then listen to the available music and download whatever you want to use in your film or video or short.
the music is free as long as it's being used in a non-commercial or non-profit film, video, or short.
if you want to use it in a commercial film or short then you can apply for an easy license, with any money that's generated being given to the humane society.
i hope that you find what you're looking for,
moby

Great news, our long-ago-shelved documentary about the pleasures of factory farming really could use a great original techno backdrop! We kid. Moby's offerings tie into this article we just caught about filmmakers using preexisting hits in lieu of original scores. It's really interesting, especially about that scene in Say Anything where John Cusack blasts "In Your Eyes" outside Ione Skye's bedroo window. Via Yahoo News:

"That needed to be the perfect song. We even brought in a songwriter, a la Bacharach, to come in and write for that moment, and that really didn't work," he said in an interview. "Nothing worked but that song. It was written in the script to be a Billy Idol song, `To Be a Lover.' It was the week that I liked that song."

But then when it came time to film that scene, he realized the upbeat Idol tune wouldn't work. ("Cusack wanted Fishbone — `I wanna play Fishbone!'" Crowe added, saying that the actor is actually playing that band's "Party at Ground Zero" while shooting this wistful moment.)

"We tried every possible song. Then I was driving to the editing room one day and I had the wedding mix from my wedding in my car. I was listening to stuff on it, it brought back memories, then `In Your Eyes' comes on. `I drive off in my car!'" he gushed, quoting Gabriel's lyrics. "It's a song about instincts! I put the pedal to the floor and we put it in the scene and it worked. Then we had to try to get the song, which is its own crusade and a really difficult thing."

In even more movie news, Moby's score of Richard Kelly's Southland Tales is out 11/14 on Mute, and he has a new dance-oriented record out in March.

Posted at 11:07 AM
Tags: Moby