Overview

What is Pitchfork?

Pitchfork is a webzine started in 1995 by Ryan Schreiber. It is based in Chicago.  Pitchfork is dedicated to music criticism while also offering news and feature articles.  They cover independent music, putting primacy on indie rock tastes.  Their coverage, however, is multi-generic discussing rock, pop, hip-hop, electronic, metal, avant-garde, jazz, dance, folk, and many other sub and sub-sub genres, named and unnamed. 

Pitchfork is updated daily Monday through Friday except on major holidays.  It has recently added a second tier to its online offerings called pitchfork.tv, a video hub that specializes in musical content.

Why is it Relevant?

Ethos, And Pitchfork in Popular Culture

Among the paradoxes of the Web is that the Litmus Test for online success is measured not in page views but in articles, that is, its coverage by old media.  Whatever the case, Pitchfork is often covered regularly by all sorts of publications, mainstream and niche alike:

“Pitchfork covers the independent, the new and the obscure, making songs available free as MP3 files and reviewing music with a ratings system that goes down to a decimal place. (Leave it to readers to figure out the quality difference between 8.3 and 8.4.) Pitchfork can build the Internet buzz that turns a local band into one with fans worldwide — a few here and there, but now aggregated online… For Pitchfork cult followings aren’t a sign of commercial failure, but of elite taste.”

In his New York Times review of music website Pitchfork’s annual P4K Music Festival in Chicago, Jon Pareles addresses two important elements of the website.  First, P4K’s manifesto implicite: a cynical critical approach that addresses the needs of a similarly cynical and critical audience.  Secondly, Pitchfork has grown in prominence and authority to where a good review is a platform for a band’s flight from obscurity into the populous.

In Wired’s 2006 feature “Music Reborn,” there is a 3,000 word article titled , “The Pitchfork Effect” with the byline: “How a tiny web outfit became the most influential tastemaker on the music scene.”  Clearly, Pitchfork is a little website with huge reach.

Pathos, Data, and Pitchfork Among the Web Monoliths

According to Alexa, Pitchfork’s ranks 1,399 in US traffic.  The average page views per visit is 3.18.  Furthermore, according to Compete.com, another website data aggregator, Pitchfork averages 200,000 unique visitors a day spending 4 minutes on the site per visit. 

Here is a chart of Pitchfork compared against other top music criticism portals