Condé Nast announced on Wednesday (Jan. 17) that it is laying off staff at the music publication Pitchfork and that the website will be absorbed by another Condé title, the men’s magazine GQ.

Anna Wintour, Condé Nast’s chief content officer, said in an email to staff that “we are evolving our Pitchfork team structure by bringing the team into the GQ organization. This decision was made after a careful evaluation of Pitchfork‘s performance and what we believe is the best path forward for the brand so that our coverage of music can continue to thrive with the company.”

https://www.billboard.com/business/busi ... 235583802/

Oof. There are fewer big, serious, general music coverage sites now. Stereogum has been operating with a skeleton crew the last couple years. AV club pretty much stopped writing about music at all. Not that I fully agreed with any of these sites, but I genuinely enjoy a good writer taking a deep dive on all kinds of music, pop included.

Where can I go to read someone grappling with the newest thing?

Pretty bleak!

losthighway wrote: Wed Jan 17, 2024 11:04 pm Where can I go to read someone grappling with the newest thing?

https://fitchpork.boards.net/

The Quietus still on.

Bernardo wrote: Thu Jan 18, 2024 7:02 am The Quietus still on.

I forgot about that one.

They've got Temu ads for items that look like a cross between a surgical tool and a sex toy, but probably are just cutting edge beauty products. But lately those follow me everywhere. What is the algorithm trying to tell me?

losthighway wrote: Wed Jan 17, 2024 11:04 pm Where can I go to read someone grappling with the newest thing?

You’re standing in it.

losthighway wrote: Thu Jan 18, 2024 7:51 am

Bernardo wrote: Thu Jan 18, 2024 7:02 am The Quietus still on.

I forgot about that one.

They've got Temu ads for items that look like a cross between a surgical tool and a sex toy, but probably are just cutting edge beauty products. But lately those follow me everywhere. What is the algorithm trying to tell me?

You need more kink in your life.

The Quietus is great. I forgot about Pitchfork. Had no idea it was Conde Nast, but I guess that makes sense. We are in the time of the Great Consolidation.

Yep. Having worked in and out of magazines since the '90s (and been laid off a ton of times b/c of similar crap), this sort of stuff is all too common now.

And it will be yet another example of a music-focused thing run (and perhaps, eventually killed off) by people who probably don't give a shit about music (fashion people, lifestyle people, and most of all, bean-counters and management types). It kind of ties back into some of the discussion in the Why Did Most People Leave? thread. And to some of the concerns voiced about Bandcamp back in the autumn.

Pitchfork mostly sucked, both well before and during the Condé regime, but at least the people working there presumably cared and knew a thing or two about the gates they were keeping. Even if I rarely agreed w/them.

But again, we seem to be living in an era in which professional "criticism" is frowned upon. (Whereas amateur-hour lovefests or caveman pile-ons via social media are the new norm.) And I suppose not profitable enough for corporate parent companies who seek unrealistic constant "growth." C'est la guerre.

Early Pitchfork may have been irritating at times, but it at least had a niche and a viewpoint. But then it went all-in on Poptimism, and what’s the point of it then? I can find enthusiasm for Justin Timberlake anywhere.