The political dimension of Moby’s marketing campaign

I don’t care, that he gives away his stems or even his physical instruments or every third bit on his hard drive or even his left finger.

I care, that he uses the lingo and reasoning of the copyleft movement in order to be popular and promote his giving away his stuff (the giving away part, I’ll say it again, I don’t care about either way!!)

This is a political statement that enforces, validates and promotes the arguments of all the copyleftists.

And this I do care about deeply. And coming from him, who had his career built on millions upon millions in marketing dollars when those dollars where still flowing because the people believing in him could actually sell something, it is an outright slap in the face of all the people who helped him and at the same time to all the people who have to negotiate their fees on a daily basis with filmmakers, studios, stations and agencies. Because we get asked: but hey, even Moby is giving away his stuff, why don’t you?

This race-to-the-bottom is a reality every single day in my work.

I don’t know how else to say it and if it’s still unclear that I don’t care about the fact that he gives away his stems I’ll say it again for good measure:

I don’t care that Moby gives away his stems!

I care that he makes an opportunistic political statement that deeply weakens the artists that start out today, because it severely weakens their position against every filmmaker, studio, broadcaster, developer, advertising agency and web platform that want to use their work.

 And as much as we like the love, it just doesn’t pay the bills.

One thought on The political dimension of Moby’s marketing campaign

  1. Absolutely agree. Any content creator/owner can choose to give away their own work (assuming they have not made agreements to the contrary with others, such as their collaborators or label), but those who actually need to make a living from selling their work are another matter. Intellectual property rights have to be fairly and properly enforced. Piracy is impoverishing the creative middle class.

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