Christian Friedrich Johannes Büttner (German:[ˈkʁɪsti̯anˈfʁɪdʁɪçjoˈhanəsˈbʏtnɐ]; born 1 June 1979), known professionally as TheFatRat, is a German DJ, record producer and musician. His genre is often described as "glitch-hop."[1] His 2016 extended play Jackpot reached 23 on the BillboardDance/Electronic Albums chart.[2] He peaked at 15 on Billboard's Next Big Sound chart in February 2015.[3]
Music career
Büttner originally aspired to become a classical conductor.[4] He began producing music in 2001 under his real name. He began by making background music for television, radio and advertisements and produced music for DJs.[5]
In July 2011, he began making solo music under the pseudonym TheFatRat, a nickname given to him in his youth. His career began with the release of his first EP, Do Be Do Be Do.[5]
By 2016, Büttner's music was used in over 1.5 million YouTube videos.[8] His single "Unity" was included on the album Sounds of Syndication Vol. 1[9] curated by Tom Cassell, one of the most subscribed streamers on Twitch.
In June 2017, he released the single "Fly Away" featuring vocalist Anjulie. In July, he performed at the Electric Forest Festival.[11] In October 2017, he released the single "Oblivion" featuring vocalist Lola Blanc.[12]
In March 2018, he released the single "MAYDAY".[13] In July 2018, he released "Warrior Songs", a music pack for the video game Dota 2, which has been made available in the game as of 13 September 2018, according to Matthew "Cyborgmatt" Bailey, director of operations of Team Secret.[14]
In December 2018, he posted a video about how YouTube's content ID system is "broken", as one anonymous user known as Ramjets claimed all the earnings for his song "The Calling" and YouTube refused to settle the dispute.[15][16][17] The claim was removed by YouTube later.[18] As an act of gratitude towards the YouTube community standing up for him, he announced that all of his music would be free to use for creative videos on the platform, without fear of him claiming or copyright striking any video.[19]
In February 2020, Redbull.com made a 10-minute documentary about Büttner and his career titled, TheFatRat: Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Him. They released this within their article, "TheFatRat: Meet the EDM DJ who's elevated video game music to high art."[20]
On 7 February 2020, Büttner released a sci-fi music video on YouTube starring himself and Maisy Kay for Büttner's song, "The Storm," which he performed with Kay.[21] The music video was filmed in Iceland, with Surtshellir Cave on the first day, Hekla Mountain on the second day, and Hjörleifshöfði on the third and final day. Accompanying the music video is a game for mobile dubbed The Storm - Interactive, where one can play through the story of the video.[22]
