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Pitchfork died because it developed a problem with music itself. Prior to 2014, the site thrived because it took music at face value, and ranked new releases b

Pitchfork died because it developed a problem with music itself. Prior to 2014, the site thrived because it took music at face value, and ranked new releases based upon what artists were contributing to the overall canon of progressive independent pop music. Everything changed in 2015. There was a drastic editorial shift, where the publication became repulsed by its own "unbearable whiteness" [1]. A kind of over-correction began, with the publication championing what they felt was the 'right' kinds of music to promote. It never caught on. The old audience moved on, and the younger audience were left scratching their heads as to why they should like artists being lauded by the reviewers as being of high cultural significance. [1] https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/710-the-unbearable-whiteness-of-indie/#:~:text=Whiteness%20is%20a%20mark%20of,the%20scene%20for%20too%20long https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/710-the-unbearable-whiteness-....

itronitron 3y ago
The writing in the Semafor article oddly made me not care one bit for Pitchfork's fate. Something about the talking up of it's importance was off-putting, or maybe there just isn't an interesting story there.
oldtownroad 3y ago
You’re arguing that a younger audience would never care for what critics have to say, in which case, Pitchfork was doomed to die regardless of the choices they made: if you’re not bringing in a new audience, you’re dying, because of churn. Perhaps wokeness hastened the loss of the old audience but evolving to meet the changing tastes of your potential audience is important, otherwise, you’re setting a date for your death. That said, I don’t think it was a cynical attempt to ride a trend but rather evolution in response to the writers and editors evolving in their understanding of music and the world. After all, Pitchfork was always a representation of the tastes of the writers and editors. Of all the people you’d expect to be at the forefront of cultural evolution, writers about culture are up there.
- deleted 3y ago
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brailsafe 3y ago
Sheesh, what an exhausting, vacuous, and frankly racist screed. If there was a point, I don't think that this would be the article to make it. Thankfully though it did introduce me to a new indie artist I hadn't heard of.
- defrost 3y ago
  Who? Belle and Sebastian ? There are other pale UK bands if that's your thing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKNt_qq6N7o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKNt_qq6N7o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKcbSOjIzjQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKcbSOjIzjQ
  - brailsafe 3y ago
    Dirty Projectors, one of probably many pale UK bands that I haven't dug into. Belle and Sebastian aren't generally my vibe for some reason, but I think do have a few songs I get on my Spotify radio from time to time
    - defrost 3y ago
      Ah, cheers for clearing that up :-) I went through The Unbearable Whiteness of Indie article trying to guess your reference - B&S got the greatest wordcount IIRC. Can't say I've heard of Dirty Projectors and their "use of attenuated 'afro' elements" - I'll chase it up, but often I prefer to see some back wash on the culture: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOValSt7YOY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOValSt7YOY https://youtu.be/tvY31eN3gtE?t=41 https://youtu.be/tvY31eN3gtE?t=41
    - jlarcombe 3y ago
      Dirty Projectors are a US band (from Brooklyn).
      - brailsafe 3y ago
        Oh ya I guess that was a simple inference mistake based on what they asked.
jollofricepeas 3y ago
Wow. Yeah, that’s not what happened. I previously worked in music first at CMJ, UrbMag then Fader before working with a few indie and major labels on the digital side. Don’t try to rewrite history to make this a political or “wokeness” thing because of the view of ONE of the many contributors to Pitchfork. What happened to Pitchfork was pure economics. Pitchfork got old just like the article said. After indie, they attempted to pivot and become more accepting of “young hip-hop” and world music (latin, Afro beat) that younger audiences listened to in the way that Fader did. This worked for awhile. Until… 1. Old Millenials and GenXers aged out 2. Music discovery moved to TikTok and the streaming platforms themselves. The bottom line is that young people could careless what a bunch of gatekeeping olds think is the “right music” anyhow.
- chriscjcj 3y ago
  At what point does l33tbro use the term "wokeness?"
- drawfloat 3y ago
  It’s a little from column a and a little column b in practice. Puja Patel (editor in chief) is fairly open about being in a mission to increase diversity and specifically covering fewer white male bands. You may spin that as “wokeness” (note: the parent never used that phrase) but it’s one and the same to covering what younger listeners were interested in over most of the last decade too. In lots of ways raging against wokeness is just the latest era of “old man shouts at cloud”. The issue with that is it’s the same shift a lot of outlets made to try and keep pace too, which has resulted in a bunch of legacy outlets with little distinct editorial voice left. That’s not a barrier to keeping clicks, but it does feel like a failing strategy to retain cultural cache. Though I digress, by all accounts Pitchfork had actually gone from losing money pre Puja to actually making money, so this was probably not about the outlet failing in some way. I personally agree with those noting how soon this has come after the staff unionisation vote
  - paganel 3y ago
    [flagged]
pavlov 3y ago
These “ruined by wokeness” theories are awfully convenient to explain any kind of vague nostalgia. I’m guessing it goes over well on YouTube. “In my childhood, Hershey’s chocolate was a beautiful expression of the essential qualities of pure milk. But then the globalists changed the recipe to make it taste like unisex toilets and ESG investments. No wonder nobody eats Hershey’s anymore!”
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praisewhitey 3y ago
Can you link a particular review from before 2014 that you really like?
AlexandrB 3y ago
I was an avid pitchfork reader in the 2000s, but by 2015 I hadn't used the site in years. I didn't even know this had happened. The last thing I remember on pitchfork was their crappy redesign in 2009.
deleted 3y ago
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itronitron 3y ago

The writing in the Semafor article oddly made me not care one bit for Pitchfork's fate. Something about the talking up of it's importance was off-putting, or maybe there just isn't an interesting story there.

oldtownroad 3y ago

You’re arguing that a younger audience would never care for what critics have to say, in which case, Pitchfork was doomed to die regardless of the choices they made: if you’re not bringing in a new audience, you’re dying, because of churn. Perhaps wokeness hastened the loss of the old audience but evolving to meet the changing tastes of your potential audience is important, otherwise, you’re setting a date for your death. That said, I don’t think it was a cynical attempt to ride a trend but rather evolution in response to the writers and editors evolving in their understanding of music and the world. After all, Pitchfork was always a representation of the tastes of the writers and editors. Of all the people you’d expect to be at the forefront of cultural evolution, writers about culture are up there.

deleted 3y ago
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brailsafe 3y ago

Sheesh, what an exhausting, vacuous, and frankly racist screed. If there was a point, I don't think that this would be the article to make it. Thankfully though it did introduce me to a new indie artist I hadn't heard of.

defrost 3y ago
Who? Belle and Sebastian ? There are other pale UK bands if that's your thing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKNt_qq6N7o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKNt_qq6N7o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKcbSOjIzjQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKcbSOjIzjQ
- brailsafe 3y ago
  Dirty Projectors, one of probably many pale UK bands that I haven't dug into. Belle and Sebastian aren't generally my vibe for some reason, but I think do have a few songs I get on my Spotify radio from time to time
  - defrost 3y ago
    Ah, cheers for clearing that up :-) I went through The Unbearable Whiteness of Indie article trying to guess your reference - B&S got the greatest wordcount IIRC. Can't say I've heard of Dirty Projectors and their "use of attenuated 'afro' elements" - I'll chase it up, but often I prefer to see some back wash on the culture: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOValSt7YOY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOValSt7YOY https://youtu.be/tvY31eN3gtE?t=41 https://youtu.be/tvY31eN3gtE?t=41
  - jlarcombe 3y ago
    Dirty Projectors are a US band (from Brooklyn).
    - brailsafe 3y ago
      Oh ya I guess that was a simple inference mistake based on what they asked.

jollofricepeas 3y ago

Wow. Yeah, that’s not what happened. I previously worked in music first at CMJ, UrbMag then Fader before working with a few indie and major labels on the digital side. Don’t try to rewrite history to make this a political or “wokeness” thing because of the view of ONE of the many contributors to Pitchfork. What happened to Pitchfork was pure economics. Pitchfork got old just like the article said. After indie, they attempted to pivot and become more accepting of “young hip-hop” and world music (latin, Afro beat) that younger audiences listened to in the way that Fader did. This worked for awhile. Until… 1. Old Millenials and GenXers aged out 2. Music discovery moved to TikTok and the streaming platforms themselves. The bottom line is that young people could careless what a bunch of gatekeeping olds think is the “right music” anyhow.

chriscjcj 3y ago
At what point does l33tbro use the term "wokeness?"
drawfloat 3y ago
It’s a little from column a and a little column b in practice. Puja Patel (editor in chief) is fairly open about being in a mission to increase diversity and specifically covering fewer white male bands. You may spin that as “wokeness” (note: the parent never used that phrase) but it’s one and the same to covering what younger listeners were interested in over most of the last decade too. In lots of ways raging against wokeness is just the latest era of “old man shouts at cloud”. The issue with that is it’s the same shift a lot of outlets made to try and keep pace too, which has resulted in a bunch of legacy outlets with little distinct editorial voice left. That’s not a barrier to keeping clicks, but it does feel like a failing strategy to retain cultural cache. Though I digress, by all accounts Pitchfork had actually gone from losing money pre Puja to actually making money, so this was probably not about the outlet failing in some way. I personally agree with those noting how soon this has come after the staff unionisation vote
- paganel 3y ago
  [flagged]

pavlov 3y ago

These “ruined by wokeness” theories are awfully convenient to explain any kind of vague nostalgia. I’m guessing it goes over well on YouTube. “In my childhood, Hershey’s chocolate was a beautiful expression of the essential qualities of pure milk. But then the globalists changed the recipe to make it taste like unisex toilets and ESG investments. No wonder nobody eats Hershey’s anymore!”

deleted 3y ago
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praisewhitey 3y ago

Can you link a particular review from before 2014 that you really like?

AlexandrB 3y ago

I was an avid pitchfork reader in the 2000s, but by 2015 I hadn't used the site in years. I didn't even know this had happened. The last thing I remember on pitchfork was their crappy redesign in 2009.

deleted 3y ago

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