Your Favorite Martian

Your Favorite Martian Biography

Your Favorite Martian is a music project from YouTuber Ray William Johnson, best known for his show =3 (Equals Three) and Breaking NYC. The group consists of four people: Dee-jay the DJ, Puff Puff the singer (voiced by Ray), Benetar the keytarist and Axel the drummer. The first official video of the channel, a music video called "My Balls," was released on January 26, 2011 and, a week after uploading, had 6.5 million views, eventually taking its place as one of the most viral videos in YouTube history. The group rose to fame and was for a time the #1 music channel on YouTube and they sold over 1,000,000 songs on iTunes. On May 9, 2012, Your Favorite Martian began doing cover songs, explaining that all original content was going towards the album they had just announced. However, on November 30, 2012, the band announced that "the project had been retired." This was a direct result of a dispute between Maker Studios and Johnson. Maker Studios, who had funded the production of YFM, and specifically the announced album, demanded a higher share of Johnson's Adsense revenue and more control over the joint intellectual property of the two parties. When Johnson declined, the network cut funding for the album. On May 15th, 2022, almost 10 years after the retirement of the project, Johnson announced "Your Favorite Martian and the Martian Multiverse" coming on June 1st via his TikTok page. On the same day, the YouTube page for Your Favorite Martian was changed from "THIS PROJECT IS RETIRED" to "THIS PROJECT IS REBORN", and their about page changed to read "June 1." On June 1st the project released "Orphan Tears, Pt.2" on their Spotify page and subsequently changed the name back to Your Favourite Martian on YouTube. YFM is now 100% owned by Ray William Johnson as of 2022 and no longer affiliated with Maker Studios (now rebranded as Disney Digital Network).