Pitchfork music ends - technically rolled into GQ

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Pitchfork, one of the strongest music news and reviews publications over its 30-year-old online history, is being folded into men's magazine GQ, owner Condé Nast said Wednesday.

Anna Wintour, the publishing house's chief content officer and the global editorial director of Vogue, emailed a memo to staff.

"This decision was made after a careful evaluation of Pitchfork's performance and what we believe is the best path forward for the brand so that our coverage of music can continue to thrive within the company," Wintour wrote. "Both Pitchfork and GQ have unique and valuable ways that they approach music journalism, and we are excited for the new possibilities together."

Wintour confirmed that a number of layoffs would result, including Pitchfork editor-in-chief Puja Patel.

The Pitchfork Union, part of the NewsGuild of New York, said in a statement that eight unionized staffers were laid off.

"Condé Nast provided no further information about the future of the premiere music publication, demonstrating once again a lack of regard for the workers who have contributed to the company's success," the union said.

Ryan Schreiber, who created Pitchfork as a teenager in 1996, lamented the website's end.


"Extremely saddened by the news that Condé Nast has chosen to restructure Pitchfork and lay off so much of its staff, including some who've been integral to its operations for many years/decades," Schreiber posted on X, formerly known as Twitter. "Sending love to everyone affected and hoping for the best for its future."

Condé Nast acquired Pitchfork in 2015 for an undisclosed sum.
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Statement to staff;
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From obscure blog to williamsburg tastemaker to irrelevant industry shill :story:
 
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I only remember Pitchfork for two things: Having a fanatical adoration of Radiohead and coming out with horrendous takes. Whether it be the review of Pet Sounds that chided it for not "aging as well as OK Computer" (an album that had come out the same year) or their review of Kid A, which was one of the most embarrassingly, ball-garglingly sycophantic things I've ever read.
 
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When I was like 17 and thought I had elite taste in music because I didn't listen to the radio like all the other kids, even then I thought pitchfork was a bunch of smug douches who cupped their own farts. And I actually liked a lot of the albums they reviewed well at the time. Those reviews were just so self absorbed and cringe though.

I'm glad it's dead.

They did throw some pretty cool festival lineups in the 2000s though.

It's kind of amazing to me that an utterly inconsequential music rag was throwing functional music fests with solid lineups at one point though. How the fuck did they pull that off, even in their best era? It's beyond my comprehension.
 
I remember making fun of Pitchfork in high school for being the hipster Bible just dripping with pretension, but that was the last etimera it was actually relevant. Kind of weird to hear it still mentioned, let alone hearing it's finally gone.
 
Huh, little did I know this past summer that I would be at the last Pitchfork Music Festival.

It was okay. Some good acts (Bolis & Charlotte, the Smile, jockstrap, Soul Glo), and some duds (BON IVER).

While the writers are borderline retarded and will never reach the level of Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Pitchfork did introduce me to one of my favorite disco albums of all time.

 
I liked Pitchfork just fine. It was basically the normie version of Hipster Runoff for people that shopped at Urban Outfitters. They stopped focusing on indie music and switched to rap and hip hop. Like Vice, once it was purchased by another company it just wasn't the same and eventually will cease to exist.
 
Years ago Pitchfork was THE big review publication in music journalism, several bands were made or broken by a .5 difference in their reviews or from being given the Best New Music tag but like so many other publications they were tanked by Brooklynite liberal women and men who took over and used "poptimism" as an excuse to worship the most insipid, mind-numbing ly stupid trashy mumble rap acts the Tens had to offer. There was also that shift in music criticism where every plaid-shirted guy with a mustache who wrote for sites like Pitchfork realized simultaneously around 2010 that the new music snob oneupmanship involved applying the same analysis to Katy Perry or Ariana Grande or Beyonce and all of the other pop acts they used to sneer at as they would Radiohead and taking all of the pop bands and divas very seriously (in very annoying ways of course).
 
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