Pitchfork founder Ryan Schreiber discusses the headcount of the music website at the time Condé Nast acquired it in 2015.
Insight
Pitchfork's infamous 0.0 Travis Morrison review forced it to wield authority responsibly
“And unfortunately that was also the point at which I realized when I realized that pitch work could break careers, could like break artists in the bad way.
I was like, yeah, that really gave me pause because the reaction to that, I did not, I mean, I didn't,
E…”
Insight
UK music press inspired Pitchfork's vicious early editorial tone
“And that, I think that, that kind of UK sensibility of me, of the UK music press, was one of the things that really influenced me to kind of be cattier or more vicious early on.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Pitchfork faced zero online competition for indie music coverage in the mid-1990s
“I was very fortunate to be able to establish Pitchfork at a time when there was zero competition. There was nothing on the web for these artists.”
What-if
Pitchfork gained mainstream attention precisely because of its hyperbolic editorial style
“If that had just been, you know, a pretty straight face, you know, if it had read like any other music journalism, I don't think people would have even really necessarily noticed us.”
Opinion
Modern digital media publications struggle to survive without a subscription paywall
“If you don't have a paywall, You're struggling.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Condé Nast cut Pitchfork's print and film projects over poor ROI
“These were both things that Condé decided weren't worth, you know, the ROI, basically.”