The Fantano Effect

**The Fantano Effect** is an hypothetic effect associated to popular music critic, Anthony Fantano. The same effect has been attributed to YouTuber and AOTY user, Brad Taste In Music, with the derived ''Brad Effect''.

## Premise

The Fantano effect's premise is that the score of an album is subject to an increase in its rate of change whenever a Fantano review for that album is released, with the variation of the rate of change being in the direction of the review's given score.

This means that if an album has a 85 average score and has been stable for days, and a Fantano review is released with a score of 60, you can reasonably expect to see a change in user score for that album quickly, and with a downward trend.

## Ghost Fantano Effect

The "Ghost Fantano Effect" is when an album's average begins dropping around the same time that Fantano releases a review that may be slightly more (or in some cases, a lot more) negative than the initial perception, which is generally skewed due to hype. While many will claim it to be a case of the Fantano Effect in play, usually the average was already at a downward trajectory anyway, as more and more people listen to the record, giving a broader scope of individuals rating it what they will.

### Reverse-Ghost Fantano Effect

This is when Fantano reviews an album more positively and the average either doesn't grow, or simply decreases. Some obvious examples of this being his 10/10 review for Spellling's The Turning Wheel, which still sits at a 3.7 average on RYM and an 82 on AOTY, whereas other 10/10s end up with an 85+ average. There's also the case of Viagra Boys' 2022 album Cave World, which Fantano gave a 9/10, but the AOTY user average still remains at 79.

## Examples of Fantano Effect

It should be noted that, although the following examples can be fishy, it doesn't necessarily mean that they would have stayed at their original average regardless.

### Flying Lotus - Flamagra

Fantano released his review a full 8 days after the album's release. From May 24th 2019 to May 31st 2019, Flamagra remained at an 80+ average. Once Fantano released his 5/10 review on June 1st, the album dipped to the high 70s, and as of November 2022, is currently at 72.

### Tool - Fear Inoculum

Fear Inoculum dropped on August 30th 2019, and before that leaked 10 days early. Prior to Fantano's review, released on September 3rd, the album gained plenty of praise, at one point reaching an 87 and even 88 average, before settling closer to 85. However, when Fantano released his 4/10 review, the album dipped to 76 over night, dropping 8 or 9 full points in a matter of hours. Fear Inoculum, as of November 2022, sits at a 69 average.

### Paysage d'Hiver - Im Wald

Im Wald is an extra suspicious example, as the album leaked many months before its official release, and Fantano released his review almost a full month after its release, giving us even more data to work on. Between its leak on January 25th 2020 and its official release on July 26th, it received high praise from AOTY's Black Metal fans, averaging around 88 or 89 with only 15-20 ratings. Upon official release, it maintained a high score, settling around 85 to 86 with a decent 80-90 users having rated it - as is to be expected with Black Metal releases. It even maintained an average on RYM of 3.9 for the first month of its release. Fantano's review on July 21st brought a lot of negative attention to it on both websites, being a 3/10 review. On AOTY, over 100 new ratings brought it down to a 74 average, and on RYM, Im Wald went from a 3.9 with over 1,000 ratings, to 3.6 with over 4,000 ratings.

### Ken Carson - X

Prior to Fantano's review, X stuck in the 50s. Fantano's 0/10 review, however, brought it right down into the red. It has dipped as low as 39, but as of November 2022 it is sitting at a flat 40.