Having licensed every single track of of his 1999 album Play to different advertisers Moby has decided not to duplicate the marketing technique on his latest effort 18.
Tracks from Play featured in US television ads for everything from American Express through Reebok and Adidas to the Audi 500. In the process they converted the American musician – who had previously spent a decade of relative obscurity on the rock and dance scene – into an international household name.
“The reason we licensed stuff from Play was that was the only avenue we had available to us to get people to hear the music,” he said. It was an approach which paid dividends in spades, with over ten million copies of the album being sold.
Riding the crest of that wave, Moby, aka Richard Melville Hall, is enjoying key support from the regular channels of radio, the media and MTV play for 18 which debuted in mid May.
While its reception has been good, the musician is pragmatic about its expectations. “If the record came out and sold 50,000 copies worldwide, I would probably think it failed,” he admits. “Play sold ten million worldwide, I’m not expecting that from this album…My main point of concern is making something I love that I feel can be important to people.”
He hasn’t turned his back on the commercial world completely, however. “I’m sure if a really interesting licensing opportunity came along I would certainly take advantage of it,” he says.
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Photo: © Alphapress.com
