Anthony Fantano can get under your skin. For almost 20 years, his strong opinions about music have rankled not just internet audiences—people “treat music like their Bible,” he tells Fortune—but also some of the world’s top artists. The 39-year-old music reviewer has had, for instance, an unexpected feud with the rapper Drake, for instance, while he’s also earned the ire of stars including Post Malone, Tyler The Creator, and Machine Gun Kelly.
Since launching his flagship YouTube channel “The Needle Drop” in 2009, Fantano has built a massive audience: With more than 3 million YouTube subscribers and millions more across Instagram, Twitch, TikTok, and X, with thousands of paying Patreon supporters to boot, Fantano has become one of the most prolific and influential independent voices in music discourse. His popularity is paying off: While he won’t disclose how much money he makes, Fantano’s business has grown to support two full-time employees and several other part-time freelancers, who support Fantano getting ideas out of his head and content out the door. Analytics platform VidIQ estimates Fantano makes up to $42,000 per month on YouTube alone.
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