Play released

Moby’s fifth album, Play , was released by Mute and V2 Records in May 1999. The project originated when a music journalist introduced Moby to the field recordings of Alan Lomax from the compilation album Sounds of the South: A Musical Journey From the Georgia Sea Islands to the Mississippi Delta . Moby took an interest in the songs and formed samples from various tracks which he used to base new tracks of his own. Upon release in May 1999, Play had moderate sales but eventually sold over 10 million copies worldwide. Moby toured worldwide in support of the album, which lasted 22 months. Every track on Play was licensed to various films, advertisements, and television shows, as well as independent films and non-profit groups. The move was criticised and led to some to consider that Moby had become a sellout, but he later maintained that the licenses were granted mostly to independent films and non-profit projects, and agreed to them due to the difficulty of getting his music heard on the radio and television in the past. In 2007, The Washington Post published an article about a mathematical equation dubbed the “Moby quotient” that determined to what degree had a musical artist sold out. It was named in reference to his decision to license music from Play .