Anthony Fantano

In order to earn enough money to pay his editor Austin Walsh, by November 2016, Fantano had recorded more regularly on a secondary YouTube channel, "thatistheplan", on which he reviewed memes and recorded "often irreverent videos that don't fall into the record review format," according to SPIN. In October 2017, Fantano was accused of promoting alt-right and racist sentiments in videos on "thatistheplan" in an article by music magazine The Fader, which criticized Fantano for the use of Pepe the Frog memes (which had recently been labeled for being an alt-right symbol), targeting feminists, and belittling the work of black musicians. Fantano uploaded a video to The Needle Drop YouTube channel in response, claiming that the article was a "hit job" and that the videos in question were "satirical". He disputed the idea that he had aligned himself with the far right, claiming that his videos actually have a "pretty obvious liberal slant" and responded to accusations of racism stating that he had "harshly critiqued and clowned on white artists and rock musicians in the past". He also posted on social media his displeasure with future edits of the article, including one claiming he laughed at a description of the murder and rape of a woman being changed to "violence towards a woman," after the video was posted. The article was later deleted by The Fader, with both parties saying that the claims were settled.

When asked about the merits of Fantano's reviews, Robert Christgau—admittedly 'barely recognizing' Fantano's name and having only 'glanced over' his Wikipedia page—said in 2019, "he seems to have arrived at a plausible brand of 21st-century rockcrit taste that runs toward what I'll call dark prog--the godfathering Swans, this year's number one Daughters, on the rap end his beloved Death Grips. But clearly he's broader than that. Little apparent interest in the pop end or indeed tune or indeed fun, however--always a tragic and psychologically revealing lacuna. Nowhere near as insensible to Hip-hop/R&B as dark proggers tend to be, but note that very few female artists crack his top 10s, which in 2018 was really missing the action. Fantano seems to have figured out a way to make some kind of living by disseminating his own criticism in the online age. That's an achievement."

He was interviewed at SXSW in 2011 about the rise of music vlogging, along with Matt Galloway of the Rock It Out! blog and Michael Roffman, president and editor-in-chief of Consequence of Sound. In March 2011, he was featured in an article from The Guardian also about the rise of music vlogging. The Needle Drop won the 2011 O Music Awards in the "Beyond the Blog" category. Fantano was offered an album review show on Adult Swim but did not go through with it.

Fantano started his career in the mid-2000s as a music director for the Southern Connecticut State University college radio station. He stated, "I've always loved music, but working there got me turned onto a lot of different styles, and got me pushing my tastes into different areas". In 2007, Fantano started working at Connecticut Public Radio in which he hosted The Needle Drop. That same year, he launched The Needle Drop in the form of written reviews, eventually launching his series of video reviews in early 2009, starting with a Jay Reatard record. Fantano's review for Flying Lotus' 2010 album Cosmogramma appearing next to other Flying Lotus videos in YouTube's "Featured Videos" section gave him the "hint" to continue making video reviews. In 2010, Fantano took down older reviews that contained music clips in order to avoid DMCA violations. At the time, he was working on The Needle Drop at the college radio station, as well as at a pizza restaurant. In late 2011, he decided to pursue The Needle Drop full-time, but kept affiliation with WNPR until 2014.

Anthony Fantano (/f æ n ˈ t æ n oʊ / ; born October 28, 1985) is an American YouTuber, music critic, journalist, vlogger, and musician who created the music-related YouTube channel The Needle Drop. Used as his tagline, he has described himself as "the Internet's busiest music nerd". His website and YouTube videos discuss and review a variety of music genres, including pop, hip hop, rock, metal, indie, electronic, folk, jazz, and experimental.

Fantano was born in Connecticut, on October 28, 1985. He spent his teenage years in Wolcott. He is of French-Canadian and Italian (Sicilian) descent. As a child, he had a desire to become a cartoonist because of The Simpsons.