Play (Moby Album) - Licensing of Songs

Licensing of Songs

Play was the first album ever to have all of its tracks licensed for use in films, television shows, or commercials and this proved a major contributor to the album's success. This is a feat that has been accomplished by only three other artists; Celldweller, Meiko, and The Crystal Method. At the time the album came out, Moby explained that he licensed the songs because it was the only way he could get the music heard. Moby's previous album Animal Rights, a foray into the alternative rock scene, had not drawn many listeners, while Moby's earlier music was known primarily to fans of dance and ambient music and had not achieved mainstream recognition in his home country of the United States.

According to his manager Eric Härle, although many people believed the songs were pitched for advertisements as part of the marketing campaign for an album that didn't fit with mainstream radio, the licensing actually came as a result of agencies asking for permission to use the music as soundbeds. Härle told HitQuarters that the music was so popular because it is evocative and emotional. Despite the heavy licensing, the adverts selected were nevertheless carefully chosen and more requests were turned down than accepted.

One of the more notable commercials featured golfer Tiger Woods playing a round of golf around New York City to the tune of "Find My Baby", but countless other uses of the album's songs are documented. According to Wired magazine, the songs on Play "have been sold hundreds of times ... a licensing venture so staggeringly lucrative that the album was a financial success months before it reached its multi-platinum sales total."

Among the films which have used music tracks from the album are "Gone in 60 Seconds" and "Swing Vote", both of which featured the B-side "Flower", which sampled "Green Sally Up", a children's playground song sung by vocalists Mattie Garder, Mary Gardner and Jesse Lee Pratcher, from the 1961 album Sounds of the South (re-released in 1993). The television show The X-Files featured the track "My Weakness" in the opening and closing scenes of the seventh season episode "Closure", and the track "The Sky is Broken" in the seventh season episode "all things".