| 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-.... |
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.