Critical Listening24 Joulu 2025

Episode 10: Season Finale w/ Anthony Fantano (The Needle Drop)

As 2025 comes to a close, so does the first season of Critical Listening. And with us to send off the year, we have none other than the internet's busiest music nerd himself: Anthony Fantano of The Needle Drop. We discuss how public perception of streaming culture discourse has shifted this past year, his efforts to offer a critical perspective on the music industry in his videos, the state of on-screen music journalism in 2025, and more.

We also dive into Anthony's background as a music journalist, the influence of public radio on his work, what media integrity means for video-first critics, and his general thoughts on music media after over 15 years of running a successful online platform. We had a lot of fun chatting with Anthony and we hope you will enjoy this culmination of Season 1. Thanks to all who pledged their monthly support to make this first season of Critical Listening happen, we can't wait to show you what we have in store for 2026. If you haven't yet please subscribe to the Patreon atpatreon.com/criticallistening. See you all in the New Year!

The tracklist for this episode includes some of our shared fav releases from the past year. Support these artists by buying their music:

Keiyaa - Take It

Purelink - Rookie ft. Loraine James

Chat Pile / Hayden Pedigo - Never Say Die

Deerhoof - Immigrant Songs

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Jaksot(18)

Episode 17: Maine Music Alliance

Welcome back! This month we are joined by Peter McLaughlin and Scott Mohler of the Maine Music Alliance. They explain how local musicians in Portland, Maine successfully stopped Live Nation from openi...

15 Touko 1h 1min

Episode 16: April 2026 Headlines (PATREON PREVIEW)

We’re back with another Headlines episode, and this month it’s our first time spending the whole episode on one story. You probably already know which one it is. For this month we are begrudgingly wad...

1 Touko 4min

Episode 15: Wendy Eisenberg

For today's episode of Critical Listening we are joined by guitarist, songwriter and improviser Wendy Eisenberg to launch a new segment, "Listening Habits." Wendy joined us a few weeks before the rele...

17 Huhti 1h 44min

Episode 13: Following the Money with Henk Willem Smits

What happens when a private equity company takes over a music festival? For this Critical Listening live taping at the ESNS Conference in Groningen, we spoke with Dutch investigative journalist Henk W...

7 Huhti 42min

Episode 14: March 2026 Headlines (PATREON PREVIEW)

Hey all, we're back with another headlines episode. This month we start by digging into UMG CEO Lucian Grainge's recent appearance on stage at a NVIDIA-hosted conference described as the "Super Bowl o...

1 Huhti 3min

Episode 12: February 2026 Headlines

Welcome back to another episode of Critical Listening. For this month’s Headlines, we’re joined by Hearing Things co-founder and longtime music critic Jill Mapes to discuss her recent piece “The Wasse...

6 Maalis 53min

Episode 11: Live from Groningen

WE’RE BACK. Today we start the year with a dispatch from what some may call the front lines: a bunch of AI-related panels at a European music biz trade conference. It’s also our first episode recorded...

11 Helmi 51min