Whatever else Farley’s work is, it isn’t AI—even when it barely seems I

March 31, 2024 1:25 PM

Why Did This Guy Put a Song About Me on Spotify? [NYT] by Brett Martin [archive link] is an essay about Matt Farley, who we last met ten years ago when he had released 14 thousand songs on Spotify, earning him 23 thousand dollars per year in royalties. Now he’s pulling 200 thousand dollars from 25 thousand songs. He’s also made multiple movies. Farley’s website, Motern Media, has a decent overview of his creative output.
posted by Kattullus (32 comments total)

Amazing! This dovetails pretty well with Damon Krukowski’s most recent newsletter about Spotify’s claims about new artists making money on the platform: “656 Unexpected Millionaires”
posted by Going To Maine at 1:46 PM on March 31 [4 favorites]

(This is surely one of the purest distillations of “content creation”, and a strong argument in favor of keeping “content creator” around as a term.)
posted by Going To Maine at 1:48 PM on March 31 [6 favorites]

Wow, this article is a journey.
posted by Going To Maine at 1:59 PM on March 31 [2 favorites]

Not the hero we need but definitely the hero we deserve.
posted by ElKevbo at 2:28 PM on March 31 [8 favorites]

The previous thread is pretty fun
posted by trig at 2:37 PM on March 31 [2 favorites]

I can't fault the guy for figuring out how to make money 1/3 of a cent at a time.
posted by hippybear at 2:38 PM on March 31 [4 favorites]

I feel sad that "Ito Hootkins" isn't a username on here already.
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 3:00 PM on March 31 [2 favorites]

For a mere $5, you could alleviate your sadness.
posted by hippybear at 3:02 PM on March 31 [7 favorites]

I sent this article to my teenager, who said:

i already knew him
and played his songs for 3 years

posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 3:03 PM on March 31 [8 favorites]

The song poem lives.
posted by freakazoid at 3:06 PM on March 31

how do you write 25,000 songs and I'm doing the math... eight songs a day!
mazing
posted by clavdivs at 3:18 PM on March 31 [2 favorites]

Weird that I never made the connection between Matt Farley musician and Matt Farley movie maker. Definitely puts things into a different perspective. There's a fun book about their film work.
posted by Ashwagandha at 3:26 PM on March 31 [1 favorite]

I can say from personal experience that Don’t Let the Riverbeast Get You is easily their most important work (I believe it is streaming on Tubi).
posted by Ashwagandha at 3:35 PM on March 31 [1 favorite]

Having now watched/listened to some of his stuff, I'd say he's doing comedy more than anything else.

Some youtube ads for his musical albums:
The Paranormal Song Warrior TV Advertisement!
The Singing Animal Lover TV Advertisement!
Papa Razzi and the Photogs TV Advertisement

And one for him to broker you a great deal:
Slingshot Cops Photos Infomercial
posted by trig at 3:36 PM on March 31 [1 favorite]

Wesley Willis, you were born too soon.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 4:06 PM on March 31 [12 favorites]

Spotify is paying it's artists now? Glad that problem has been solved.
posted by Comstar at 4:09 PM on March 31 [1 favorite]

I am shocked, but shouldn't be, that the Times reporter doesn't seem to have interviewed Farley's wife.
posted by knile at 4:19 PM on March 31 [5 favorites]

freakazoid: The song poem lives.


Off the Charts was a great documentary on the topic. I’d like to think that some collector of vinyl ephemera has a pristine copy of Non-violent Kung-Fu Bicycles.
posted by dr_dank at 4:31 PM on March 31 [1 favorite]

The Paranormal Song Warrior TV ad makes me think of Onision before he was a trainwreck.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 4:39 PM on March 31

The Chuck Tingle of streaming audio.
posted by Captaintripps at 4:54 PM on March 31 [3 favorites]

………. How many children does he have?
posted by seanmpuckett at 5:16 PM on March 31

The Chuck Tingle of streaming audio.

This is an absolutely slanderous denigration of the artistry that Dr. Tingle puts into his work.
posted by Horace Rumpole at 5:47 PM on March 31 [9 favorites]

seanmpuckett, two, according to the Times article
posted by knile at 6:01 PM on March 31

“The Odd Man is more shameless,” he explained. “The Toilet Bowl Cleaners are making statements with their albums,” though the distinction between the former’s “Butt Cheeks Butt Cheeks Butt Cheeks!” and the latter’s “I Need a Lot of Toilet Paper to Clean the Poop in My Butt” may be subtler than he imagines.

all right, i'm on board.
posted by ZaphodB at 7:41 PM on March 31 [2 favorites]

I am shocked, but shouldn't be, that the Times reporter doesn't seem to have interviewed Farley's wife.

I was about to post there is no way this guy could be married but then I remembered local artist Sam Locke Ward, who is known for his prodigious musical output, and who is married with kids. Personally, I’m a fan of this track.

I would like to conclude by saying that the world is better with these sorts of people around.
posted by Big Al 8000 at 9:15 PM on March 31 [1 favorite]

Suno has entered the chat
posted by DreamerFi at 1:05 AM on April 1

That Krukowski article has a list of some of the 656 artist names used by one Swedish guy on Spotify, and he deserves all the money just for Bonnie Mathis.
posted by YoungStencil at 7:26 AM on April 1 [1 favorite]

As someone who occasionally posts videos of my dogs on TikTok, this makes me even more curious about the 'songs about dogs doing things' sounds on that platform. They're mostly awful songs with lyrics like "when mom comes home it's the happiest feeling" by an artist called something like "Puppy Songs." If you don't get royalties based on views and only per video that uses the sound, I wonder how lucrative (or not) that entire enterprise is.
posted by misskaz at 8:14 AM on April 1

Hey now, the mothman song is surprisingly catchy.
posted by capricorn at 8:27 AM on April 1 [2 favorites]

“I designed my entire life to not have to go to cookouts.”

I like this man.
posted by scruss at 1:56 PM on April 1 [2 favorites]

That bit where he made one cent from a song in a TikTok video that's been viewed four million times.
posted by subdee at 6:25 PM on April 3 [1 favorite]

I suggest Dick Poop
posted by Pronoiac at 1:57 AM on April 9