People are weird. And some make a living at it.

The Internet has unleashed all sorts of creativity. Some of it's non-monetized (e.g., Pink Slip), and some of it wildly money-making.

Oh, Matt Farley isn't wildly money-making. He's not up there with, say Kylie Jenner - or is it Kendall? - in terms of raking in oodles for being famous for being famous. Still, he's making about $200K a year by releasing thousands of nonsense songs on streaming platforms. So far, he's posted more than 24,000 songs, sometimes producing 50 a day. 

Matt Farley has released thousands of songs with the goal of producing a result to match nearly anything anybody could think to search for. (Source: NY Times)

For Brett Martin, who wrote the Times article, the anything his anybody could think to search for was his name. And, damned, if there isn't a song entitled "Brett Martin, You a Nice Man, Yes."

Some of the songs Farley concocts name-check celebrities (or near celebrities like Martin, who shares his name with a former MLB player and an Australian squash player), and often pulls together tunes grouped according to themes. He releases them under pseudonyms - the Brett Martin song was from Papa Razzi and the Photogs.

Papa Razzi and the Photogs is only one of about 80 pseudonyms Farley uses to release his music. As the Hungry Food Band, he sings songs about foods. As the Guy Who Sings Songs About Cities & Towns, he sings the atlas. He has 600 songs inviting different-named girls to the prom and 500 that are marriage proposals. He has an album of very specific apologies; albums devoted to sports teams in every city that has a sports team; hundreds of songs about animals, and jobs, and weather, and furniture, and one band that is simply called the Guy Who Sings Your Name Over and Over.

While Farley has a lot going on, it's his scatalogical offerings, his "poop songs," that have proven the most lucrative. These are released under two names, the Toilet Bowl Cleaners and the Odd Man Who Sings About Poop, Puke and Pee. With titles like "Butt Cheeks Butt Cheeks Butt Cheeks!”, “I Need a Lot of Toilet Paper to Clean the Poop in My Butt”, and "Poop In My Fingernails," Farley has made about $469K from plays on Spotify and other streaming platforms. 

While he doesn't bring in much per individual stream, when a number like "Poop In My Fingers" gets 4.4 million (and counting) streams on Spotify alone, it all adds up.

Farley, who lives in Danvers, Mass. and graduated from Providence College, uses the money he makes for his songs to "help fund his multiple other creative endeavors."

These include his work as a legit musician; a podcast that recaps Celtics game; and quirky movies starring friends and family, and himself, which he makes on a shoestring budget.

He's a big believer in the creative urge:

His theory is that every idea, no matter its apparent value, must be honored and completed. An idea thwarted is an insult to the muse and is punished accordingly.

Well, I'm all for creativity, but I'm not a believer in any way, shape or form that every idea deserves an airing. There are a lot of really terrible ideas out there.  

“If you reject your own ideas, then the part of the brain that comes up with ideas is going to stop,” he said. “You just do it and do it and do it, and you sort it out later.”

Me? I'd be happy if people rejected the really terrible ones that are their very own. Maybe that would get them to stop.

Still, it's pretty amazing that Matt Farley, freelance oddball, is making a pretty good living off weird little ideas, and some really terrible songs about poop under fingernails. I guess it's no wonder that Pink Slip was never monetized. I've just got the wrong sort of creative mind.