Matt Farley

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Matt Farley
Farley in November 2020
Farley in November 2020
Background information
Born (1978-06-03) June 3, 1978 (age 43)
OriginDanvers, Massachusetts, US
GenresAlternative rock, rock music, folk, novelty songs
Occupation(s)Singer-songwriter, musician, filmmaker
InstrumentsVocals, piano, keyboards, guitar
Years active1996–present
LabelsMotern Media
Associated acts
  • Moes Haven
  • The Big Heist
  • The Toilet Bowl Cleaners
  • The Very Nice Interesting Singer Man
  • The Odd Man Who Sings About Poop, Puke and Pee
  • Brennan McFarley
  • The Guy Who Sings Songs About Cities & Towns
  • Matt Motern Manly Man
  • The Prom Song Singers
  • The Philadelphia Sports Band
  • The Hungry Food Band
Websitemoternmedia.com

Matt Farley (born June 3, 1978)[1] is an American filmmaker, musician, and songwriter who has released over 22,000 songs as of June 2021.[2][3] His music is released under a variety of band names.

Biography[]

Farley grew up in Massachusetts, graduated from Bishop Fenwick High School in 1996, and then majored in English at Providence College in Rhode Island, graduating in 2000. Around 2008, he discovered that songs with silly titles from his band "Moes Haven" (which he had streaming on Spotify) were the only ones generating revenue. He soon began writing and recording songs about everything and anything that he thought people might search for.[4][5]

MattFarleyMay2021.png

His band names, which exceed 70, often correlate to the subject matter of their songs. For example, "Papa Razzi and the Photogs" release albums filled with songs about celebrities, and "The Hungry Food Band" releases songs about food. Thousands of songs celebrate birthdays with different names. Over 500 songs are "prom proposals" songs each sung with a different name. Yet another series of albums are composed completely of songs about towns within a U.S. state or other country, with lyrics derived from reading Wikipedia articles on each town. However, his most lucrative band is likely the "Toilet Bowl Cleaners", who sing songs about fecal matter. According to Farley, one song that contains only the word "poop" repeated over and over generates $500 in streaming revenue every month as of 2018, likely in part because children request it from Alexa or other devices.[6][7][8] Farley earned over $23,000 in 2013 from his song catalog and $65,000 per year by 2018.[4][6][9][10]

Farley has also written custom songs, generating $2,000 or more in revenue per month, but stopped doing this in 2021.[11][12][13][14][15] The Reply All podcast has featured Farley multiple times and used his custom songs.[16]

Much of Farley's output is piano-and-vocals compositions.[17] Albums can run to 100 songs in length.[18][19] 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. Farley's serious and non-lucrative albums are called "no jokes" albums.[20][21] He previously had a day-job at a group home for teens but by 2017 his musical career was so lucrative that he was able to focus on it full-time.[6] He has two children with his wife Elizabeth.[6][22]

In 2016, Farley 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.[11]

Discography[]

"No Jokes" work[]

Farley 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)
  • Moes Haven – Songs from the Vault, Vol. 1 (2013)
  • 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 (2020)
  • The Finklestinks – Sweetheart Deal (2021; upcoming)


Music label and films[]

Farley's output is released under the label Motern Media, and he is rarely identified directly by name. Farley often includes his personal phone number in his lyrics, which yields calls and texts from fans surprised to find the number is real.[17][23]

Farley has made several low-budget comedy-horror films, primarily starring his family and friends, with titles such as Freaky Farley (2007), Don't Let the Riverbeast Get You (2012), Slingshot Cops (2016).[23][24] He is the subject of a 2018 Australian documentary, Lessons from a Middle Class Artist.[7]

His film work has been chronicled in the interview book Motern on Motern: Conversations with Matt Farley and Charles Roxburgh[25] by Will Sloan and Justin Decloux.

He performs an annual five-and-a-half-hour concert "extravaganza" in Danvers, Massachusetts.[7]

References[]

  1. ^ 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.
  2. ^ Wild, Matt (March 7, 2019). The guy who wrote "Milwaukee Poop Poop Poop" (and 20,000 other songs) wrote a song about me and now I'm complete, Milwaukee Record
  3. ^ "Matt Farley just recorded his 22,000th song!". Motern Media (via Facebook). March 29, 2021. Retrieved August 8, 2021.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b 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.
  5. ^ Forman, Ethan (April 10, 2013). "The perfect 'promposal'". The Salem News. Retrieved August 8, 2021.
  6. ^ Jump up to: a b c d 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.
  7. ^ Jump up to: 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.
  8. ^ Musician Brilliantly Capitalizes on Promposal Season. Right This Minute. March 21, 2019. Retrieved May 20, 2019.
  9. ^ 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.
  10. ^ 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.
  11. ^ Jump up to: a b Mastrogiacomo, Angela (July 9, 2018). "Matt Farley continues to exist: How one man is bringing quantity and quality to Spotify". . Retrieved May 20, 2019.
  12. ^ Klinkenerg, Brendan (January 8, 2015). "The Musician Who's Gaming Search Engines To Actually Make Money". Wired.
  13. ^ "Click Bait Muso". RN Drive (Podcast). Radio Australia. September 9, 2015. Retrieved May 20, 2019.
  14. ^ 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.
  15. ^ "Custom songs". Motern Media. Retrieved August 8, 2021.
  16. ^ "#82 Hell?". Reply All (Podcast). No. 82. November 17, 2016 – via Gimlet Media.
  17. ^ Jump up to: 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.
  18. ^ D'Onfro, Jillian (January 23, 2014). "This Man Makes $23,000 Posting Music Spam On Spotify And iTunes". Business Insider. Retrieved May 20, 2019.
  19. ^ Heltzel, Zachary (October 17, 2014). "A glimpse inside the mind of the world's most prolific musician". The State Press. Retrieved May 20, 2014.
  20. ^ Dunavin, Davis (January 5, 2017). "Digital Savvy Earns Money For New England Musician". Connecticut Public Radio. Retrieved May 20, 2019.
  21. ^ Decloux, Justin (June 11, 2018). The Best Music of Matt Farley (in Five Albums), Film Trap
  22. ^ Holmes, David (June 6, 2014). "I spent the day making music with Matt Farley, Spotify's number one 'music spammer'". Pando. Retrieved August 8, 2021.
  23. ^ Jump up to: a b Reed, James (February 7, 2014). "Danvers man becomes a click-bait music star". The Boston Globe. Retrieved May 20, 2019.
  24. ^ Vogel, Jim; Lowe, Kenneth (July 4, 2018). "Bad Movie Diaries: Don't Let the Riverbeast Get You (2012)". Paste. Retrieved May 20, 2019.
  25. ^ "Motern on Motern: Conversations with Matt Farley and Charles Roxburgh". Amazon.com. December 15, 2020.

External links[]

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