Matt Farley (born June 3, 1978)[1] is an American singer-songwriter, musician, filmmaker, and podcaster. Self-described as the "greatest songwriter ever",[2] he has released more than 25,000 songs as of January 5, 2024[update].[3][4] Farley's creative output is released under his label Motern Media, and he usually presents his musical work under a variety of pseudonyms and band names, including the Toilet Bowl Cleaners, Papa Razzi and the Photogs, the Hungry Food Band, the Guy Who Sings Songs About Cities & Towns and the Odd Man Who Sings About Poop, Puke and Pee.
Matt Farley | |
|---|---|
 Farley in 2019 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | June 3, 1978 Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Origin | Danvers, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Genres | Alternative rock, rock music, folk, novelty songs |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, filmmaker, podcaster |
| Instrument(s) | Vocals, piano, keyboards, guitar |
| Years active | 1996–present |
| Labels | Motern Media |
| Spouse | Elizabeth Farley (née Peterson) |
| Website | moternmedia |
Farley has additionally starred in, co-written, co-produced and released over 15 amateur feature-length movies with his friend Charlie Roxburgh, and hosts two podcasts.
Life and musical career
editFarley grew up in Massachusetts, graduated from Bishop Fenwick High School in 1996, majored in English at Providence College in Rhode Island, graduating in 2000, and then moved to Manchester, New Hampshire, specifically because he knew no-one who lived there. He joined the band Moes Haven, at one point attempting to record one album with the band every day for a year. He left CDs of the band's work in public places across the city, and drove people to the airport so he could get them to listen to the band's music. Moes Haven was strongly influenced by Bob Dylan, Van Morrison and Pink Floyd.[5] Farley also worked a 40-hour-week day job for three days a week at a group home for teenagers,[5][6] and would continue to do so until 2017.[5]
Farley uploaded Moes Haven's catalogue to iTunes, and later Spotify.[5] Around 2008,[citation needed] he discovered that "Shut Up Your Monkey", a comical song by the band, had become its only song to be downloaded in large numbers,[5] and that their songs with silly titles were the only ones to generate revenue. He soon began writing and recording songs about common terms he thought people might type into a search bar.[5][6] He later said that "people were searching for unique words – words that aren't usually in song titles."[7]
By January 2014, he had released over 14,000 songs in 200 albums under 65 different band names, at an average pace of around 20 per day, or 100 per day maximum.[7] In January 2015, Farley said he was recording 200 songs per month, having written over 16,000 songs at that point, including a 92-song album about office supplies. He had set a goal to quit his day job so he could make music seven days a week.[6]
In 2016, he performed "Used to Be a Pizza Hut", a song topic derived from internet traffic about how re-purposed locations of the American chain restaurant still retain their distinctive roof style, on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.[8] The Reply All podcast has featured Farley multiple times and used his custom songs.[9] By 2017, his musical career was so lucrative that he was able to focus on it full-time, leaving behind his day-job at a group home for teenagers.[10] In 2021, he self-published a 136-page manifesto on creativity titled "The Motern Method".[5]
In 2024, New York Times journalist Brett Martin found that Farley had written a song about him specifically, 11 years prior.[5] Farley has now slowed down to producing one 50-song album per month,[5] and he performs an annual five-and-a-half-hour concert "extravaganza" in Danvers, Massachusetts, where he now lives.[11]
Musical artistry
editMuch of Farley's output consists of piano-and-vocals compositions.[12] His albums can be up to 100 songs in length.[13][14] Farley's pseudonyms, which as of 2024[update] number about 80, often correlate to the subject of their songs; he releases albums about celebrities as Papa Razzi and the Photogs, releases songs about food as the Hungry Food Band, has performed 70 different versions of “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” as the Motern Media Holiday Singers, and sings songs about cities and towns as the Guy Who Sings Songs About Cities & Towns.[5] As part of the latter, his lyrics are largely derived from reading Wikipedia articles on each town.[10] Thousands of his songs under the name the Best Birthday Song Band Ever celebrate birthdays,[5] each sung about a different name.[citation needed] As of 2024[update], 600 of his songs invite different feminine names to the prom, and 500 of them are marriage proposals. The Sorry Apology Person is another of his pseudonyms,[7] with songs for specific apologies.[5] Other albums consist of topics such as sports teams, animals, jobs, weather, and furniture. His other band names include the Guy Who Sings Your Name Over and Over, the New Orleans Sports Band, the Chicago Sports Band, the Singing Film Critic, the Great Weather Song Person, the Paranormal Song Warrior,[5] the Passionate & Objective Jokerfan and the Birthday Band For Old People.[7]
Farley has two pseudonyms dedicated to songs about fecal matter; The Toilet Bowl Cleaners, which he describes as "making statements with their albums", and The Odd Man Who Sings About Poop, Puke and Pee, which he says is "more shameless".[5] According to Farley, one song that contains only the word "poop" repeated over and over generated $500 in streaming revenue every month as of 2018,[update] likely in part because children requested it from Alexa or other devices.[11][15] "Poop in My Fingernails" by the Toilet Bowl Cleaners is one of his most popular songs, with over 4.4 million streams on Spotify as of March 2024[update].[5]
Some of his albums, even from a band such as the Toilet Bowl Cleaners, contain more serious output; that band's 11th album is titled Mature Love Songs, none of which are about fecal matter.[16][17] Farley refers to these more serious and less lucrative albums as "no jokes" albums.[5]
Farley often includes his personal phone number in his lyrics, which often yields calls and texts from fans surprised to find the number is real.[12][18] He has stated that director Dennis Dugan once called him after hearing his song “Dennis Dugan, I Like Your Movies Very A Lot,” but that he did not realize who Dugan was until it was too late.[5]
Earnings
editFarley has spoken frequently about his earnings from his music over time. Farley earned $3,000 from his music in 2008, and this had increased to $24,000 in 2012.[5] He earned over $23,000 in 2013 from his song catalog, with 60% of this money coming from MP3 downloads and the rest from streaming.[7][19] He earned over $27,000 in 2014,[6] around $65,000 per year by 2018,[20] and almost $200,000 per year by 2023.[5] Until 2021, Farley generated $2,000 or more in revenue per month from writing custom songs.[8][21]
As of 2024[update], Farley has earned approximately $469,000 from both his pseudonyms the Toilet Bowl Cleaners and the Odd Man Who Sings About Poop, Puke and Pee collectively. Additionally, he has earned $41,000 from Papa Razzi and the Photogs, $38,000 from the Best Birthday Song Band Ever, and $80,000 from the Guy Who Sings Your Name Over and Over. Many of his other pseudonyms have earned between two and four digits.[5]
Filmmaking
editAlongside his musical output, Farley has also made more than a dozen independently financed low-budget films, almost all as collaborations with director Charles Roxburgh, which star their family and friends, with titles such as Freaky Farley (2007) and Slingshot Cops (2016).[18][2] Don't Let the Riverbeast Get You (2012) is his most popular work, about a cryptid threatening a small New England town, featuring his father as big-game hunter.[5]
Their early films were mostly comedy-horrors, but their more recent films have broadened in their genre. As an example, in Magic Spot (2022), fan-favorite recurring actor Kevin McGee stars as the deceased Uncle Dan Port, who as a ghost visits his young nephews and nieces to teach them a poem; when his nephews Walter (Farley) and Poopy (Chris Peterson) reflect on the poem as adults, they find that it reveals the secret to both time travel andtheir uncle's mysterious death. From 2021 through 2025, Farley and Roxburgh are attempting to release two films per year.[22]
His working method, primarily relating to his music, is the subject of a 2018 Australian documentary, Lessons from a Middle Class Artist.[11] He wrote and directed a fictionalized version of his career in 2013's Local Legends, the only film Farley has made where Roxburgh is not credited as director and co-writer.[23]
Farley's film work has been chronicled in the book of interviews Motern on Motern: Conversations with Matt Farley and Charles Roxburgh by Will Sloan and Justin Decloux.[24] In 2020, Spectacle Theatre and Laserblast Film Society presented an online retrospective of Motern's film work.[23]
Podcasts
editFarley also hosts two podcasts,[5] The Motern Media Infomercial Podcast and The Motern Media Celtics Podcast,[citation needed] which respectively cover his own work and the Boston Celtics basketball team.[5]
Personal life
editFarley has two children with his wife Elizabeth, and lives in Danvers, Massachusetts. He owns a cockapoo named Pippi.[5]
Filmography
edit| Year | Title | Role | Director |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Adventures in Cruben Country | Matt Farley | Yes |
| 2002 | Sammy: The Tale of a Teddy and a Terrible Tunnel | Jamie | |
| 2003 | Druid Gladiator Clone | Matt Farley | Yes |
| 2004 | Druids Druids Everywhere | Matt | |
| 2006 | Obtuse Todd | Todd Harding | Yes |
| 2007 | Freaky Farley | Farley Wilder | |
| 2009 | Monsters, Marriage, and Murder in Manchvegas | Marshall | |
| 2012 | Don't Let the Riverbeast Get You! | Neil Stuart | |
| 2013 | Local Legends | Matt Farley | Yes |
| 2016 | Slingshot Cops | Rusty Sinclair | |
| 2017 | Motern Media Christmas Special | Matt Farley | |
| 2021 | Heard She Got Married | Mitch Owens | |
| 2021 | Metal Detector Maniac | Matt Farley | |
| 2022 | Magic Spot | Walter Moore | |
| 2023 | Boston Johnny | Boston Johnny | |
| 2023 | Heard She Got Murdered | Mitch Owens | |
| 2024 | Local Legends: Bloodbath | Matt Farley | Yes |
Discography
edit"No Jokes" work
editFarley calls his serious music "No Jokes" music. It started with Moes Haven from 2004 to 2010, and was then revived in 2014 with Projection from the Side's Basement Reunion. This is a list of all of his "No Jokes" material.
- Moes Haven – Out with the Old (2004)
- Moes Haven – Music for the Final Millennium (2004; taken down)
- Moes Haven – Dislocated Songs (2004)
- Moes Haven – Svetlana Finds Solace in the Arms of English Men of Letters (2005)
- Moes Haven – If Not Us, Who? (2005; taken down)
- Moes Haven – Someone Else. (2005)
- Moes Haven – Explorations in Madness (2005)
- Moes Haven – Moe's Haven (2005)
- Moes Haven – Sir Paul Made Ram. We Made This. (2005)
- Moes Haven – Down With Memories (2005)
- Moes Haven – January (2006)
- Moes Haven – February: From the Barnyard to the Bayou and Back (2006)
- Moes Haven – March: of the Aliens (2006)
- Moes Haven – April: What a Cruel Month! (2006)
- Moes Haven – May: I Buy You a Sandwich? (2006)
- Moes Haven – June (2006)
- Moes Haven – July: in the Sun with Me? (2006)
- Moes Haven – August: of Temporal Inconsistency (2006)
- Moes Haven – September: in Manchvegas (2006)
- Moes Haven – (SH)OC(K)TOBER (2006)
- Moes Haven – November the Tar! (2006)
- Moes Haven – December (2006)
- Moes Haven – If Not Us, Who? (2007; re-release with altered tracklist)
- Moes Haven – This is My Millennium! (2008; re-release with altered tracklist)
- Moes Haven – Stromboli's Alarm Clock (2010)
- The Toilet Bowl Cleaners – Mature Love Songs (2014)
- Projection from the Side – Basement Reunion (2014)
- Matt Motern Manly Man – Joyous Cackle! (2015)
- The Very Nice Interesting Singer Man – Common Phrases (2015)
- Matt Motern Manly Man – Motern Heartburn (2016)
- The Very Nice Interesting Singer Man – Keep Being Awesome! (2016)
- The Guy Who Sings Songs About Cities and Towns – I've Never Left My Hometown (2016)
- The Strange Man Who Sings About Dead Animals – Animal Noises (2016)
- Matt Motern Manly Man – Delicate Genius / Thirsty Killer (2017)
- The Finklestinks – Double Take Action (2017)
- The Very Nice Interesting Singer Man – Roy and Cathy (2017)
- Projection from the Side – Let's Go Camping! (2017)
- The Very Nice Interesting Singer Man – Emotions (2017)
- Matt Motern Manly Man – Great Unfinished Masterpiece (2017)
- The Big Heist – MO75, Volume 1 (2018)
- The Big Heist – MO75, Volume 2 (2018)
- The Big Heist – MO75, Volume 3 (2018)
- Matt Motern Manly Man – I Forgot What I Was Gonna Say (2019)
- Brennan McFarley – Wednesday Night Chronicles (2019)
- Caniko Tucci – These Are the Forces (2019)
- The Big Heist – Tightrope (2020)
- Brennan McFarley – The Beyond (2020)
- Caniko Tucci – Frantic Frenzy (2021)
- The Finklestinks – Sweetheart Deal (2021)
- The Big Heist – Perfect Crime (2023)
- The Big Heist – Old Route One (2023)
- The Big Heist – This Ain't Mardi Gras (2023)
- The Big Heist – Sirens (2023)
- The Big Heist – Roller Rink (2023)
- Moes Haven – (Several Supreme Beings Told Us to Make This) One Last Album (2023)
References
edit- ^ CJ Rooney (December 21, 2017). "Quest for a Million Listeners: Matt Farley on Songwriting, Philosophy and His Creative Life". CJRooney.com. Retrieved May 20, 2019.
- ^ a b Vogel, Jim; Lowe, Kenneth (July 4, 2018). "Bad Movie Diaries: Don't Let the Riverbeast Get You (2012)". Paste. Retrieved May 20, 2019.
- ^ Kay, Liz F. (September–November 2024). "Why Matt Farley wrote 25,000 songs for Spotify". Providence College Magazine. Retrieved November 5, 2024.
- ^ Schneider, Dana (27 March 2024) Matt Farley Won’t Stop: In conversation with the prolifically silly songwriter
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Martin, Brett (March 31, 2024). "Why Did Matt Farley Put a Song About Me on Spotify?". The New York Times. Retrieved March 31, 2024.
- ^ a b c d Klinkenerg, Brendan (January 8, 2015). "The Musician Who's Gaming Search Engines To Actually Make Money". Wired.
- ^ a b c d e McConnell, Fred (January 29, 2014). "Spotify: how a busy songwriter you've never heard of makes it work for him". The Guardian. Retrieved May 20, 2019.
- ^ a b Mastrogiacomo, Angela (July 9, 2018). "Matt Farley continues to exist: How one man is bringing quantity and quality to Spotify". Substream Magazine. Retrieved May 20, 2019.
- ^ "#82 Hell?". Reply All (Podcast). No. 82. November 17, 2016 – via Gimlet Media.
- ^ a b Remo, Jessica (September 2018). "This guy wrote 88 terribly awesome songs about N.J. towns. Have a listen". NJ.com. Advance Publications. Retrieved August 8, 2021.
- ^ a b c Bennett, Emily (February 6, 2019). "Matt Farley of Motern Media puts Highlands towns on the map in Australian-themed album". Southern Highland News. Retrieved May 20, 2019.
- ^ a b Brawley, Eddie (September 4, 2014). "This Genius Lunatic Has Recorded 16,000 Songs About Everything from Poop to Ellen Degeneres". Vice. Retrieved May 20, 2019.
- ^ D'Onfro, Jillian (January 23, 2014). "This Man Makes $23,000 Posting Music Spam On Spotify And iTunes". Business Insider. Retrieved May 20, 2019.
- ^ Heltzel, Zachary (October 17, 2014). "A glimpse inside the mind of the world's most prolific musician". The State Press. Retrieved May 20, 2014.
- ^ Musician Brilliantly Capitalizes on Promposal Season. Right This Minute. March 21, 2019. Retrieved May 20, 2019.
- ^ Dunavin, Davis (January 5, 2017). "Digital Savvy Earns Money For New England Musician". Connecticut Public Radio. Retrieved May 20, 2019.
- ^ Decloux, Justin (June 11, 2018). The Best Music of Matt Farley (in Five Albums), Film Trap
- ^ a b Reed, James (February 7, 2014). "Danvers man becomes a click-bait music star". The Boston Globe. Retrieved May 20, 2019.
- ^ Perry, Kevin EG (January 29, 2014). "This Guy Made $23,000 by Releasing 14,000 Songs on iTunes and Spotify". Vice. Retrieved May 20, 2019.
- ^ Murphy, Bill (September 22, 2018). "This Guy Works From Home and Makes Big Money on iTunes, Spotify, and Amazon. (Here's His Brilliant Trick)". Inc. Retrieved August 8, 2021.
- ^ Vogt, PJ; Goldman, Alex (January 22, 2014). "One Hundred Songs In A Day". On the Media (Podcast). No. 10. Retrieved May 20, 2019 – via WNYC.
- ^ Zigler, Brianna (June 3, 2022). "The Mad Genius of Magic Spot, Motern Media, and Matt Farley". Paste Magazine. Retrieved June 21, 2023.
- ^ a b "Farley/Roxburgh's Heard She Got Married". Screen Slate. Retrieved August 10, 2023.
- ^ "Motern on Motern: Conversations with Matt Farley and Charles Roxburgh". Amazon.com. December 15, 2020.
External links
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