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Pitchfork Media

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Pitchfork Media<tr><td colspan="2" style="text-align: center;">Pitchfork Media:Image:Pitchforklogo.jpg</td></tr>
URL pitchforkmedia.com<tr><th>Commercial?</th><td>No</td></tr>
Type of site Music webzine<tr><th>Registration</th><td>No</td></tr>
Owner Ryan Schreiber
Created by Ryan Schreiber<tr><th>Launched</th><td>1995</td></tr>

Pitchfork Media, usually known simply as Pitchfork and occasionally shortened to P4K or pfork,[1] is a United States-based daily Internet publication devoted to music criticism and commentary, music news, and artist interviews. Its central focus lies with independent music.[2] However, the range of musical genres reviewed is extremely broad and extends to electronic, folk, jazz, pop, dance, and hip hop music.

Pitchfork journalists also review reissued albums and box sets and occasionally publish "best-of" lists, for example the best albums of 2000-05, and annual features detailing the best singles and albums of each year between 2001 and 2005. In addition, the site has published a list of the top 100 albums of each decade between 1970 and 2000 and a list of the 200 greatest songs of the 1960s. The publication is reputed to have significant influence in the independent music world.


Contents

History

Pitchfork Media:An old Pitchfork logo
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An old Pitchfork logo

Pitchfork was created in Minneapolis, Minnesota in late 1995 by Ryan Schreiber, then just out of high school. Influenced by local fanzines and college radio station KUOM, Schreiber, who had no previous writing experience, aimed to provide the Internet with a regularly updated resource for independent music. At first bearing the name Turntable, the site was originally updated once monthly with interviews and reviews. In May 1996, the site began publishing daily, and was renamed Pitchfork, after Tony Montana's tattoo in the 1983 film Scarface.[3]

In early 1999, Schreiber uprooted Pitchfork from its Minneapolis base and relocated to Chicago, Illinois. By then, the site had expanded to four full-length album reviews daily, as well as sporadic interviews, features, and columns. It had also begun garnering a following for both its extensive coverage of underground music and its writing style, which was often unhindered by the conventions of print magazine journalism. In October of that year, the site added a daily music news section.

Size, readership and site traffic

Pitchfork now receives an audience of more than 170,000 readers per day, and more than 1.3 million unique visitors per month, making it the most popular independent-focused music publication online.[4][5]

On October 24, 2003, the author of Pitchformula.com, reported that Pitchfork had published 5,575 reviews, from 158 different authors, with an average length of just over 520 words. Together, the reviews featured a total of 2,901,650 words.[6] However, this data was recorded in 2003; since that point the site has continued to release reviews on an almost daily basis (excluding weekends and public holidays).

Criticism

Along with its popularity, Pitchfork has attracted some criticism. A common complaint is that the site's journalism suffers from a narrow view of independent music, favoring lo-fi indie rock over other genres, and giving undue value to obscurity.[7]The most common criticism, however, targets Pitchfork's record reviews. An elitist or self-conscious tone is perceived by some, as well as a tendency to emphasize the reviewers' imaginations and writing abilities over the music they are actually reviewing.[7] Comedian David Cross made a direct jab at the site's trademark style: when Pitchfork asked him to compile a list of his favorite albums, he instead provided them with a list of "Albums to Listen to While Reading Overwrought Pitchfork Reviews", clearly in retaliation to the less-than-favorable reviews they had given his own comedy records, which he defensively quotes at the beginning of the article.[8]

In 2004, comedy website Something Awful created a parody of Pitchfork for one of their "Fake SA" front pages. Entitled "Richdork Media", the page made references to nonexistent "indie" bands in its reviews, news headlines, and advertisements, and its rating system also contained references to the band Radiohead, as well as retro t-shirts, college radio, and a fear of going mainstream.[9]

Influence of Pitchfork reviews

Pitchfork's opinions have gained increased cultural currency in recent years; some in the mainstream media view the site as a barometer of the independent music scene, and positive quotes from its reviews are increasingly used in press releases and affixed to the front of CDs.

Since 2004, when "indie" music as represented by the site was seen to experience a popular resurgence, some publications have cited Pitchfork in having played a part in "breaking" The Arcade Fire, Sufjan Stevens, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Interpol, The Go! Team, The Dismemberment Plan, Junior Boys, The Books, Broken Social Scene, Wolf Parade, and Tapes 'n Tapes. Some of these artists first received attention from other sources, however, and the site's true impact on their popularity remains a source of frequent debate.

Conversely, Pitchfork has also been seen as a negative influence on some indie artists' popularity. As suggested in a Washington Post article of April 2006, Pitchfork's reviews can have a significant influence on an album's popularity, especially if it had previously only been available to a limited audience or had been released on an independent record label. "An endorsement from Pitchfork – which dispenses its approval one-tenth of a point at a time, up to a maximum of 10 points – is very valuable, indeed."[3]

Examples

Involvement in music festivals

Pitchfork Media:Pitchfork Music Festival logo.
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Pitchfork Music Festival logo.

Intonation Music Festival

Main article: Intonation Music Festival

In 2005, Pitchfork curated the Intonation Music Festival, attracting some 15,000 attendees to Chicago's Union Park for a two-day bill featuring notable performances by 25 independent acts, including Broken Social Scene, The Decemberists, The Go! Team, and a rare appearance by Les Savy Fav.

Pitchfork Music Festival

Main article: Pitchfork Music Festival

On July 29 and 30, 2006, the publication premiered its own Pitchfork Music Festival in the same park, an event which attracted over 18,000 attendees per day. More than 40 bands performed at the inaugural festival, including Spoon and Yo La Tengo, as well as a rare headlining set by reunited Tropicália band Os Mutantes.[13]

Rating system

Pitchfork's music reviews use two different rating systems:

On October 24, 2003 the author of Pitchformula.com made a survey of the 5,575 reviews available on the website at that time, showing that:

Albums awarded a 10.0 rating

The following albums received a 10.0 rating upon initial release:

The following albums received a 10.0 rating upon re-release:

Albums awarded a 0.0 rating

The following albums received a 0.0 rating either upon initial release or re-release:

See also

References

  1. ^ P., Ethan (June 4, 2002). Eminem: The Eminem Show: Pitchfork Record Review. Pitchfork Media. Retrieved on 2006-10-29.
  2. ^ Burns, Anna. Pitchfork Media. ABC.net. Retrieved on 2006-10-29.
  3. ^ a b du Lac, Josh Freedom. "Giving Indie Acts A Plug, or Pulling It", The Washington Post, April 30, 2006. Retrieved on 2006-10-29.
  4. ^ Site Traffic Information for www.pitchforkmedia.com. Alexa Internet. Retrieved on 2006-10-29.
  5. ^ Itzkoff, Dave (September 2006). The Pitchfork Effect. Wired. Retrieved on 2006-10-29.
  6. ^ a b Wilson, Loren Jan. Statistics for the reviews database. pitchformula.com. Retrieved on 2006-10-29.
  7. ^ a b Thomas, Lindsey. "The Pitchfork Effect", City Pages, June 14, 2006. Retrieved on 2006-10-30.
  8. ^ Cross, David (May 5, 2005). Albums to Listen to While Reading Overwrought Pitchfork Reviews. Pitchfork Media. Retrieved on 2006-10-30.
  9. ^ RichDork Media and Music Reviews and General Pretentiousness. Something Awful (2004). Retrieved on 2006-10-30.
  10. ^ Kot, Greg. "Pitchfork e-zine tells indie fans what's hot and not", The Honolulu Advertiser, May 8, 2005. Retrieved on 2006-10-29.
  11. ^ CR (June 2005). Clap Your Hands Say Yeah Interview. Tiny Mix Tapes. Retrieved on 2006-10-29.
  12. ^ Condon, Patrick. "Blogs 'n buzz help propel Tapes 'N Tapes to music stardom", Associated Press, August 18, 2006. Retrieved on 2006-10-29.
  13. ^ Pitchfork Music Festival 2006. Pitchfork Media (August 2, 2006). Retrieved on 2006-10-30.

Pitchfork sites

Best-of lists

Categories


1995 establishments | Music publications | Entertainment websites

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