Anyone who's ever made a short film knows what a bitch it can be to get that perfect song to match the opus you just finished putting on tape. Sure, you can rip that Beatles or Coldplay song and pop it in under your video, but by doing so you severely limit yourself in where you can display your work (legally). This is a fortunate fact for musicians who want to have recourse against those who pilfer their hard work for their own gain, but can sometimes be a shock to those who use others' tracks in ignorance of the rules. For example, I didn't take my "Industry Laws and Regulations" class until my senior year in film school, but none of my professors mentioned this pesky little thing called copyright in any of my intro production classes. The result? A handful of shorts that I can't show anywhere without re-cutting because I don't have the rights to the music I used. Yipee.

Well, at least one musician out there is lending a helping hand to filmmakers in need of music for their films. Variety.com reported this week that Moby, the 'multifaceted dance music artist' who is the man behind hit songs like "Southside" and "We Are All Made of Stars," is giving away 44 unreleased tracks for use by indie, nonprofit and student filmmakers (11 instrumental tracks from "Hotel," six from "Play: B Sides" and three from "18."), which are available on mobygratis.com

"The biggest complaint I hear from my friends who are indie filmmakers is that they can't get calls returned from record companies or that licensing quotes are outlandish," said Moby, who minored in film at SUNY Purchase. So what's the catch, you may be asking? "Whenever I tell anyone about this, people keep expecting a catch. There isn't one."

Users just register at his site where they can download the music. If a film's creator finds distribution for their work, or they are creating something for commercial purposes, they can apply for "an easy license, with any money that's generated being given to the humane society." Moby said, "I structured it so that it's impossible for me to make any money from it." He's planning to make 20 more tracks available on the site by the end of the month. Pretty cool, huh?

Now there may not be a catch to using the tracks in your short film, but one caveat to keep in mind if you want to upload here -- putting a film on TriggerStreet.com could still be considered distribution of sorts, so make sure you cover all your bases with regards to licensing and make that clear in your short's production notes and/or credits with any music you use, or you may find your film being submitted to the Hall of Justice for copyright infringement. Another great resource regarding music in film would be our interview with film music supervisor Michelle Kuznetzky from back in the early days of TriggerStreetTV, in Episode 3.

Cheers and happy filmmaking!