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Might have posted this upthread but it seems to me that this record’s biggest legacy (and perhaps Moby’s) is that it effectively killed the idea that a musician could “sell out” in licensing of all his or her songs.
It’s almost hard to remember now but before this record, there was an almost puritanical view of licensing music within alternative/independent musician circles (of which Moby was still then a member). It mostly came up in the wake of grunge and alternative, which found a bunch of heretofore small independent acts used to playing clubs and selling a few thousand records at best suddenly signed to major labels, selling tons of records and playing in stadiums. Notwithstanding their sudden increase in popularity, using your music to expressly sell products remained largely verboten — and to the extent it was done at all, it was largely seen as an embarrassment.
By 1999, however, grunge and alternative were largely dead. A number of these acts had been dropped by the majors. Some completely flopped — others had successfully (and shamelessly) commercialized themselves to broaden their audience (I’m still blown away at how generic the Butthole Surfers became). But however you felt about it, a whole lot of heroes were dead by the end of the decade, either literally or figuratively — as was any notion of “integrity” in pop music (which was always a terrible idea anyway).
Enter Play. By not simply licensing the music but by making a self-conscious statement that he intended to license every song on the record, Moby effectively gave a host of musicians license to do the same. Almost immediately, and accelerated by the internet and the advent of mp3s, the floodgates opened and countless indie acts were getting their music on TV shows, commercials and the like. Music was everywhere And artists making money off of it (instead of just the labels) was “OK."
Whatever else you think of the music itself (I enjoy it), that to me is the record’s biggest legacy. There really is no such thing as "selling out" anymore. Musicians are free to make money off their “art” in pretty much any way possible. Thanks, Moby.
― Naive Teen Idol, Wednesday, 3 January 2018 16:29 (six years ago) link
Is he actually hitting a note or percussion with the drumsticks? You can hear them hitting pads in the video but I don’t hear what they’re doing in the music.
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Wednesday, 3 January 2018 17:00 (six years ago) link
i think tbh that the selling out for Moby wasn't much of an issue bc the usual folks who'd cry "sellout!" at a musician licensing their songs only moan if it's rock music, i don't think blues-sampling electronic tunes are gonna register for them.
― omar little, Wednesday, 3 January 2018 19:05 (six years ago) link
Also there's a podcast interview where Moby addresses Richard D James calling him a buffoon and an elitist. Moby thinks (or at least lies about it) that he called him a buffoon because he played guitar on stage and that he was being called an elitist for having insomnia and not being talkative. These Jim Poe anecdotes actually reveal the reason... he was just dancing on stage like a buffoon with unplugged instruments and he travelled on airplane while everyone else (including Aphex Twin and Orbital) travelled by bus with the rest of the roadies and staff.
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Wednesday, 3 January 2018 20:04 (six years ago) link
It also shows how Moby was a businessman first and a musician second so the shameless selling out of Play shouldn't be surprising to any of his fans.
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Wednesday, 3 January 2018 20:08 (six years ago) link
five years pass...