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Started July 11th, 2025 · 3 replies · Latest reply by HughPH 2 days, 3 hours ago
but not if your usage of his work conflicts with his views ... https://mobygratis.com/
I've used mobygratis for a while now. I mainly find it useful for short films and the like, since I am a student filmmaker. The one issue I have with the site is that all of the music is edm/synth style music, and I'd have to look elsewhere if I want music that is actually played on instruments. Other than that minor issue, it is a treasure trove of free songs.
The license agreement is still muddy. It reads like if you experience any success, he'll try to get 51% of the revenue of the whole project from you - no matter how small a part his music is. The FAQs state somewhere that actually it's 51% of your revenue to his preferred charities, but the license doesn't mention charity or charities at all.
The "De Minimus Commercial Uses" section (4) of the license describes purposes that are clearly commercial ("De Minimus COMMERCIAL USES") but then goes on to say that "If you wish to use Moby's music for any purpose that is clearly commercial, you must apply for a separate commercial license ..." which is contradictory.
The section on commercial licenses (
is wholly unclear. FIrst it talks about sending an email to apply for a commercial license, which is fine. Then it talks about Collaborations, which are uses of the tracks in music, from which he demands his 51% and your revenue share being "in the sole discretion of mobygratis, at most, 49%". It doesn't talk anywhere about film except in the introduction where he says he created mobygratis "to enable other creators such as filmmakers, musicians, students, influencers, chroeographers ..." leaving a huge gap - if you used one of the tracks, completely unmodified, in an independent film which "went viral" and made you a million of your favourite currency, would that become commercial use? It's not a collaboration. The movie is not a derivative work of the music. (Unless it's a music video.) There's just too great a hole for me to feel safe using the music. Too much risk if you enjoy success, even accidentally, of getting a letter from Moby's legal representative(s) demanding such a deep cut of your revenue that you'll wish you'd never even heard of Moby.