TheFatRat

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 2010, Büttner produced the song Mignon Mignon for René la Taupe, which became a number-one single in France.^[6] Around that time, he also produced the song "Audubon Ballroom" on Lupe Fiasco's album Food & Liquor II: The Great American Rap Album Pt. 1, which charted at #5 on the Billboard 200.^[7]

In July 2011, he began making solo music under the pseudonym TheFatRat. The nickname given to him was Ratte, which is German for rat. It came from his short stature as he is 5 feet tall. His career began with the release of his first EP, Do Be Do Be Do.^[5]

By 2014, Büttner's music was used in over 1.5 million YouTube videos.^{[citation needed]} His single "Unity" was included on the album Sounds of Syndication Vol. 1^[8] curated by Tom Cassell, one of the most subscribed streamers on Twitch.

In November 2016, Büttner released his second EP, Jackpot on the Universal Music label.^{[citation needed]} The EP reached #23 on the Billboard Dance/Electronic Albums chart.^[2] In December 2016, Büttner started a record label, The Arcadium, in collaboration with Universal Music.^[9]

In June 2017, Büttner released the single "Fly Away" featuring vocalist Anjulie. In July, he performed at the Electric Forest Festival.^[10] In October 2017, he released the single "Oblivion" featuring vocalist Lola Blanc.^[11]

In March 2018, he released the single "MAYDAY".^[12] 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.^[13]

In December 2018, he posted a video about how YouTube's content ID system is "broken", as an anonymous user known as Ramjets claimed all the earnings for his song "The Calling" and YouTube refused to settle the dispute.^[14][15][16] The claim was removed by YouTube later.^[17] 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.^[18]

From sometime around 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."^[19]

On 7 February 2020, Büttner released a sci-fi music video on YouTube starring himself and Maisy Kay for a special song called "The Storm," where he performed with Kay.^[20] 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 titled The Storm - Interactive, where one can play through the story of the video.^[21] To conclude the year, he did a collaboration with South Korean vocalist AleXa for “Rule the World”.

On 13 April 2021, he released his first studio album, titled Parallax, containing over 10 songs. Artists featured on the collaborative setlist were Laura Brehm, Anjulie, RIELL, Cecilia Gault, Lindsey Stirling, and Everen Maxwell.