I want to have a legit discussion about this article so keep it respectful and actually read it 👍

"The influential evangelist in question is the YouTuber named Anthony Fantano, 34, who has been speaking album and song reviews directly into a camera for more than a decade on The Needle Drop, his channel with 2.26 million subscribers, making him probably the most popular music critic left standing."

He may not be able to sway opinion on a well-known rapper, “But I feel like I can break an artist — I do have the power to do that,” Fantano said

"Across thousands of videos on multiple platforms, including a recent partnership with the Amazon-owned livestreaming site Twitch, Fantano has built up a legion of followers and imitators who trade in nicknames (“Melon” is for the critic’s pale dome), inside jokes and Easter eggs (wearing a yellow flannel shirt signals a rave, red flannel means a pan). Along the way, he has helped to push a notoriously insular and endangered art form — the record review — toward a new default medium and younger audience."

Full article: nytimes.com/2020/09/30/arts/music/anthony-fantano-the-needle-drop.html

Where is the concept of the music critic headed? Are publications like Pitchfork obsolete?

Pretty good social distancing. Light 8.

kttcritic all ya need bro

music critics been obsolete since the day music became available for free on the internet

Music is a feeling /vibe

A baby can decide if it likes a song or not

This s*** not math

f*** you Joe Coscarelli

i thought fantano had some type of business dealing with them actually

PSA: critics dont matter

If i dont like your s*** i dont care if it got a 10/10 from a white man. I’ll bash it publically

Fantano has a deal with Complex I think

0:22

I used to watch his videos to get a different view on an album I liked or didn’t like but somewhere along the way I realized I don’t really care and that critics can have an extremely negative effect on how we consume music which quite honestly is evident with fantanos younger core fan base. Now, as hack as it May seeM, I just listen to what I like and do not care.

nyt is right that fantano is part entertainer and i think thas an element that gives him staying power over most publications

additionally video > written word in a lot of cases in terms of what people prefer to consume.

however what i think written word still has over video is the depth it can go into. i don't watch fantano's stuff much anymore but when i did (perhaps 2 years ago was when i stayed decently up to date with his reviews) i never found that he really pierced an album such that i learned something new about said album. i still find new interpretations of music via some reviewers every now and then but only thru written word

maybe that doesn't have to do necessarily with video as a medium and has more to do w/ fantano's approach to reviewing. maybe a video could cover an album better than written word can, especially if a video included pieces of music to illustrate its points. fantano prolly doesn't do that cus it'd cost him money. i suspect he is also intentionally conservative in the number of words he uses cus he knows that people won't watch a 40 minute album review unless it's insanely good. that same 40 minute video review, however, could be transcribed and read by someone in probably 15-30 minutes, so that could be another benefit to written word's case

(If you’re Under 25)

Most of these niggas not reading publications tbh. They’ll much rather look at a video format

The issue with Fantano is that he's a Youtuber first and a critic second. Some of his opinions and videos play out like a creator who's trying to be a contrarian for the sake of views and clicks.

looking like a slim stavros halkias

“There’s no number of negative reviews I can give to Nav that can end his career,” Fantano said

Lmfao

You didn’t hear? My man has the bald pony now

age doesn't make sense

i saw that. he looks sexy af

i like fantano for his recommendations. there's a lot of albums I've come to love that I would've never heard of had he not reviewed and given them great scores.

skittering hi hats and icy synths

I think he has pretty meh taste and is an argument for why you shouldn't listen to too much music but I understand his appeal.