Mobygratis – Free Moby music to empower your creative projects
40 comments
·April 26, 2025joeevans1000
Really interesting to think about what would constitute commercial use in this day and age. If someone makes the track and puts it on YouTube and there happens to be ads… apparently 51% has to go to Moby. it is cool that anyone could just download and go. But I wonder if a lot of bedroom producers are just going to accept the terms without actually reading them, and not realize, based on the introductory video, that they have to do a profit share if they monetize in anyway. I do think he should've mentioned the profit share in his video.
androng
Commercial Use License If you wish to use a track from the mobygratis platform for commercial purposes, you must apply for a commercial license prior to such use. You may do so by sending an email to: mobygratis@moby.com and include your full name, the name of the Track, and your desired use of the Track, including all the commercial uses you anticipate, and the desired duration of the commercial license.
If one or more artists create an initial Collaboration and they are granted a commercial license, their revenue share would be, in the sole discretion of mobygratis, at most, 49% (forty-nine percent) of the gross income earned, received or credited from the permitted use and exploitation of that Collaboration. If a Collaboration is subsequently used by another artist or artists to create a new (or sub-) Collaboration—the new collaborating artist(s) will receive their share of any revenue exclusively from the initial collaborator(s); the mobygratis revenue share of any collaboration, regardless of how many layers of collaboration have occurred, shall always be greater than 50% (fifty percent). However, the specifics are subject to change in the sole and absolute discretion of mobygratis and would be covered on a case-by-case in the commercial license.
gus_massa
Just to clarify, your comment is a quote of https://mobygratis.com/license-agreement#:~:text=Commercial%...
If you add > * text * it's more clear what is happening:
> Commercial Use License If you wish to use a track from the mobygratis platform for commercial purposes, you must apply for a commercial license prior to such use. You may do so by sending an email to: mobygratis@moby.com and include your full name, the name of the Track, and your desired use of the Track, including all the commercial uses you anticipate, and the desired duration of the commercial license.
> If one or more artists create an initial Collaboration and they are granted a commercial license, their revenue share would be, in the sole discretion of mobygratis, at most, 49% (forty-nine percent) of the gross income earned, received or credited from the permitted use and exploitation of that Collaboration. If a Collaboration is subsequently used by another artist or artists to create a new (or sub-) Collaboration—the new collaborating artist(s) will receive their share of any revenue exclusively from the initial collaborator(s); the mobygratis revenue share of any collaboration, regardless of how many layers of collaboration have occurred, shall always be greater than 50% (fifty percent). However, the specifics are subject to change in the sole and absolute discretion of mobygratis and would be covered on a case-by-case in the commercial license.
ano-ther
I don't care that the license is non-commercial.
The collection is great. It's like a much more polished and professional version of my ideas folder (I rarely get beyond the initial loop/riff stage). Will now download a random piece, pop it into my DAW and see if it can inspire me to create something new.
textadventure
I think like 99% of people in comments are missing the fact that Moby first launched this project 20 years ago when not even Youtube was a thing.
glimshe
I wish they could have used standard creative commons licenses. It took me some time to find that the tracks can't be used commercially without per-track licensing conversations.
nialse
The licensing is "interesting". Using a standard and well understood license would be helpful. Reading the license Moby Collaboration, Inc. reserves the unchecked, unilateral right to revoke the permission “at any time for any reason or no reason.” - this is unlikely to hold up in court and is a signal for anyone to not touch the content with a ten-foot pole. It makes me think that Moby forgot to check the license with a lawyer, and maybe with reality, first.
ZeroTalent
Given his track record, I doubt he will pursue irrational lawsuits.
croisillon
i don't understand how i can accept the license, i disabled uBlock origin and still see no solution
lovegrenoble
Crazy and over-complicated license, better have a look at it: https://freemusicarchive.org/home
antfarm
Cool idea of a great artist to stay relevant in the era of AI generated muzak!
anotherlab
Moby licensed every song from "Play" for commercial use. The exposure made "Play" a huge hit for him. This is just a variation of that.
This is an attempt to grab a slice of the pie before AI-generated music kills the market for session musicians. His terms of use are odd, but that's his choice.
joenot443
With all the charity work Moby does, I get the impression he's pretty comfortable cash-wise.
Personally, I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt and saying that his intentions are earnest here; he really does want to put free music in the hands of creators. Maybe if he'd launched a $MOBY memecoin alongside it I'd be skeptical, but my gut says this isn't a venture he expects to make real money from.
textadventure
Moby launched this site TWENTY YEARS AGO, before YouTube even existed.
imaginationra
It's not tho, Moby. And this "music" is human generated muzak.
rkagerer
All I wanted to do was play a sample of one randomly selected track.
Clicking the play button doesn't do that, it brings up a somewhat eccentric 2-line license agreement.
Clicking the checkmark to agree then prompts for your email address and to create an account.
These are dark UI patterns, and it's a shame a website purporting to be about generously sharing free content uses them. A button should do what it advertises.
Here's a snippet from the full license text if anyone's curious:
Moby does not permit his Tracks to be used to advertise right-wing politics or causes, or to be used to promote meat, dairy, or other animal products. People may disagree about when these lines have been crossed—which is why Moby retains the right to terminate the license to any Track completely at his sole and absolute discretion, at any time.
Also note you're contracting with a corporation, and the agreement includes a clause about you indemnifying them.
nialse
Just a quick note: pressing the ‘Browse Anonymously’ button located just above the email field will allow you to do exactly that.
rkagerer
Thanks, I missed that extra step.
00deadbeef
I found it simple enough. There’s a “browse anonymously” button after the eccentric terms.
graemep
Not just eccentric, it is vague and arbitrary. "Right wing" is very vague, and "animal products" is not much better.
That snippet implicitly acknowledges this and Moby the person gets to arbitrate between you and Moby Collaboration, Inc.
Also this:
"Mobygratis retains the right in its sole and absolute discretion to determine whether any use of a Track (or Collaboration or Master Recording derived therefrom) is commercial."
HowTheStoryEnds
Yeah it's the Stalinistic version of freedom.
autobodie
More like the libertarian version of freedom, but not much more.
autobodie
> "Moby does not permit his Tracks to be used to advertise right-wing politics or causes, or to be used to promote meat, dairy, or other animal products. People may disagree about when these lines have been crossed—which is why Moby retains the right to terminate the license to any Track completely at his sole and absolute discretion, at any time."
janalsncm
It’s all relative. Last week I found out that building housing was considered a right wing idea. Apparently supply side progressivism is right wing in some circles.
ZeroTalent
Context matters: what housing?
janalsncm
The idea to increase supply to push costs down so that regular people like teachers and waiters and nurses can afford to live in the city.
Of course this will induce demand as well, so it’s nonlinear. But the point is, it’s not a right wing idea.
self_awareness
Too much politics involved for my taste.
It seems that I can't use it to promote Slavic content, because Slavic as a tradition can be right-wing in Moby's world.
If you're a content creator, I don't think going into this rabbit hole is worth it.
imaginationra
Is this a joke? No one is going to use this. This "music" was content slop ai music before content slop ai music- so people will just use real content slop ai music.
hackyhacky
"The music these days, it's just noise. Why can't kids listen to real music, like we used to have?"
-- literally every generation
janalsncm
The best songs from any generation will be much better than a random song from today’s top 80. So there’s some selection bias as well.
senko
"You have technicians here making noise. These people are not musicians, because nobody can play the guitar!"
The intro video makes it sound multiple times like he wants creatives to use the music with absolutely no strings or restrictions, but the most basic uses like a Youtube video or indie film would require manually applying for a license where half the revenue goes to Mobygratis let alone the restrictions based on Moby’s political and dietary preferences.
He’s certainly free to license his music however he wants but he’s really overselling how permissive it is.