SXSWORLD

Infl uential Pitchfork Widens Audience and Expands Reach by Susan Shepard Pitchfork. Th e lack of a commenting system (though a magazine-style letters feature, "Inbox," was recently introduced) is one, and the constant fl ow of album reviews, each rated on the publication's signature 0.0-10.0 scale, is the other. "Th ey've always been front and center on the page; they're usually the part readers argue about, or think of as Pitchfork's 'offi cial' commentary on the world, complete with the numerical rating stamped on them. Th ey seem fundamental to the way the whole thing is organized," said New York critic and longtime Pitchfork writer Nitsuh Abebe. Arcade Fire and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah both received high ratings and accompanying "Best New Music" designations for early releases and are frequently cited as examples of the power of a good Pitchfork review. Th e former became Grammy-winning, Madison Square Garden-headlining indie rock stars, the latter a test case for the supercharged hype cycle of the web. In both instances, the number at the top of the review had the most impact. "Th e core of the brand 48 SXSW ORLD / M ARCH F ILM- I A 2012 to play. "Th at website scares me! It's the scariest thing on the Internet." While perhaps excessively vivid, the comparison doesn't overstate Pitchfork's impact on an indie band's career. By determining what is worthy of inclusion on its site, it currently plays a role that recalls that of Rolling Stone and Spin in past decades, with a debt to Robert Christgau's "Consumer Guide," in directing the conversation about contemporary music. Th e story of how founder Ryan Schreiber took Pitchfork from a one-man record review site to a multimillion-dollar media empire has been discussed everywhere from Th e New York Times to BusinessWeek, with no small amount of handwringing over the site's infl uence and what it means for music criticism. Schreiber started Pitchfork in 1995 in Minneapolis, grew the site in Chicago and announced its move to Brooklyn last year. Today, the site reaches a self-reported three million unique visitors and 30 million monthly page views. Its annual revenue is estimated to be between fi ve and 10 million dollars. Th ere are two features that defi ne F leet Foxes were performing at a Pitchfork-sponsored party during SXSW 2008 when singer Robin Pecknold commented on how fl attered and intimidated he was by the site's invitation to Pitchfork. "David Shapiro" started a Pitchfork Reviews Reviews Tumblr to respond to the site, and Richard Beck wrote a nearly 10,000 word essay on its impact on music culture in the Brooklyn- based literary magazine n+1. Pitchfork and its readership have been satirized everywhere from Th e Onion (the 2007 story "Pitchfork Gives Music 6.8") to Portlandia. "Th e time a character on Veronica Mars got excited about landing an internship at Pitchfork—that was a little weird," said Abebe. Ten years ago, Pitchfork would have been called an indie rock site, but today it gives as much coverage to pop artists like Drake and Lana Del Rey as to underground rockers Ty Segall and the Men. Electronic act Burial is reviewed side-by-side with John Fahey reissues. As genre designations simultaneously explode in number and become increasingly meaningless, Pitchfork's ever-increasing readership and success point to the usefulness of a publication that can both give a perfect score to Kanye West's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy and name Pavement's "Gold Soundz" presenting showcases at SXSW, which started its Interactive conference in 1995, the same year Pitchfork launched. Both have become industry mainstays that grew from small, regional beginnings and have had the advantage of early adaptation to the changing media landscape while combining industry insider status with fan accessibility. ■ launching a video site (Pitchfork.tv), livestreaming concerts (including LCD Soundsystem's fi nal show at Madison Square Garden and Austin's 2011 Fun Fun Fun Fest) and, since 2006, putting on the Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago with a sister festival in Paris last year. In light of Pitchfork's growth, it is fi tting that the site should be people across a surprisingly wide spectrum, from total obsessives to people who just stop every other month and wonder if any cool new indie-rock albums are out," said Abebe. With its position and infl uence established, Pitchfork continues to expand its reach, types of music fans. "It seems to work for song of the 1990s. It also is able to cater the to best diff erent Pitchfork presents showcases on Tuesday, March 13 at the Mohawk and Thurs- day, March 15 at the Central Presbyterian Church. See schedule.sxsw.com for details. of the site remains, obviously, within the 1-10 point scoring system," said Pitchfork writer Eric Harvey. "Doing away with that would be doing away with the identity of the site." Part of its brand identity is the passionate way readers respond

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