Pitchfork (website)

Pitchfork (formerly Pitchfork Media) is an American online music publication founded in 1996 by Ryan Schreiber in Minneapolis. It originally covered alternative and independent music, and expanded to cover genres including pop, hip hop, jazz and metal. Pitchfork is one of the most influential music publications to have emerged in the internet age.

In the 2000s, Pitchfork distinguished itself from print media through its unusual reviews, coverage of emerging acts and ability to publish multiple reviews a day. It was praised as passionate, unique and authentic, but criticized as pretentious, mean-spirited and elitist, playing into stereotypes of the cynical hipster. Artists whose careers grew from positive Pitchfork reviews include the Dismemberment Plan, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Modest Mouse, Broken Social Scene, Bon Iver and Sufjan Stevens.

Pitchfork relocated to Chicago in 1999 and Brooklyn, New York, in 2011. It expanded operations in the 2010s, launching the annual Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago, the video site Pitchfork.tv and a print publication, The Pitchfork Review, among other projects. Pitchfork also began covering more mainstream music and issues of gender, race and identity. As of 2014, Pitchfork was receiving around 6.2 million unique visitors every month.

The influence of Pitchfork declined in the 2010s with the growth of streaming and social media. In 2015, it was acquired by the mass media company Condé Nast and moved to One World Trade Center. Schreiber left in 2019. In 2024, Condé Nast announced plans to merge Pitchfork into the men's magazine GQ, resulting in layoffs. The merge triggered criticism and concern for the implications for the industry.