Cauliflower Chic Face-Lift Suits (!) for Summer
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RECLAIM A FAMOUS SPA’S BLACK YOUR WEEKEND CAULIFLOWER CHIC FACE-LIFT SUITS (!) FOR SUMMER rd a n o e L Ryan in Schreiber’s v once-scrappy e D hipster-ironic y music review B site has made it to media’s main stage— and that means teaming with P Teen h Vogue o ographs by Laurel Golio How Pitchfork has expanded Bloomberg Businessweek its business beyond snarky Bloomberg Businessweek Etc. Media music reviews: Etc. aby’s All Right, a club in Brooklyn’s Wil- few days before the Jay Som show, Schreiber the idea of curating a music festival are,” he recalls saying. One supporter: New liamsburg neighborhood, is almost full sits in his office talking about Pitchfork’s origin with him and Kaskie, the two figured it Yorker editor David Remnick. “I was thrilled when Ryan Schreiber arrives. A burly story. He’s been listening to More Life, the new was good branding. After a trial run in with the idea,” he said in an email. 41-year-old, he’s wearing a dark overcoat Drake album, which the rapper dropped with 2005, the company took over the event When the acquisition was announced in open to display a vintage Whitney Houston little warning a day or two earlier. It’s one of the next summer, calling it the Pitchfork October 2015, there was consternation in the T-shirt. Schreiber, founder of the ground- the things artists do these days that makes Music Festival. “Suddenly, people are like, media. “Condé Nast Purchase of Pitchfork It collaborated on a special breaking music website Pitchfork, gets a Pitchfork’s job tougher. “We’re all trying to ‘Why are there 20,000 people going to see issue with Teen Vogue Media Sounds Death Knell for Indie Rock,” beer and threads his way through the crowd work out our opinions,” Schreiber says. (Contributing editor bands I’ve never heard of?’ ” Kaskie says. the New York Observer lamented. But indie for a better view of Melina Jayson Greene’s review gives it a 7.8.) By 2007, Schreiber had moved to New rock hasn’t died. It’s just taken on new forms. Duterte, a 23-year-old Schreiber barely graduated from high school in York, where there were even more con- Pitchfork contributed to an upcoming music singer-songwriter who plays under 1994 and didn’t go to college. He got a job at certs to see. He and Kaskie introduced issue of Teen Vogue, helping it prepare a the name Jay Som; her debut album, a record store and watched as his music- Pitchfork .tv with web shows such as Don’t timeline about music’s role in social move- Everybody Works, recently earned a loving friends published DIY zines that Look Down, which featured live perfor- ments. Pitchfork editors also appeared in a glowing 8.6 (out of 10) review from were long on enthusiasm, short on mances on rooftops. As Pitchfork delved holiday video with a peer at Bon Appétit to play Schreiber’s site. He wants to hear polish, and expensive to distrib- into video, it attracted big-name spon- Christmas records and mix Old-Fashioneds. how she sounds live, as he puts it, ute. Schreiber thought, Why not sors like American Express Co. and Apple The sale has bolstered Pitchfork’s appeal “before it becomes a job” for her. publish one online? Inc. The reviews on the site became as to advertisers. In January the company rolled It started a music festival Duterte is the kind of inde- In 1996 he started a monthly erudite as those of the music magazines in Chicago out October, a site featuring beer news and pendent artist whom Schreiber webzine called Turntable but that Pitchfork had all but eclipsed in influ- reviews that’s owned by brewing giant set out to champion in 1996, when rechristened it Pitchfork Media ence. The American Society of Magazine AB InBev SA/NV and ZX Ventures, its venture he started Pitchfork while living (to evoke the Midwest and a Editors nominated Pitchfork for a National capital fund. Mike Raspatello, formerly a with his parents in Victoria, Minn. sharp edge) after another site Magazine Award for general excellence in ZX director and now October’s president, Along the way, he established claimed rights to the original name. digital media in 2013. It won. says he pitched the idea to Pitchfork last what became the dominant voice Pitchfork’s distinctive review system year. “Beer doesn’t have its Bon Appétit,” he of internet music reviewing. “It down to the decimal let writers ver the years, Schreiber says. Early on, the new site bit the hand that wasn’t the detached, scholarly elevate or disembowel records with brushed off would- feeds it with a piece impaling the market- take of a Rolling Stone review,” surgical precision. One day, Schreiber be investors. But by ing of Budweiser, AB InBev’s flagship brand, says Alan Light, a former editor got a call from an online record store, 2014, Pitchfork needed after Donald Trump’s election. Raspatello It teamed up with Bon Appétit 60 of Spin and Vibe. “It stood out for Insound, that wanted to advertise. He money. The Brooklyn says he didn’t flinch: “The independence 61 its insidery, hipster tone.” asked for $500. “They were like, ‘Sounds office was a cool place of the editorial is the most crucial aspect of Much has changed since 1996. great!’ ” he recalls. With that, Pitchfork where employees could the partnership.” Today, Schreiber employs 51 people, became a business. push desks against walls for bands to It might be a good time for Pitchfork runs music festivals in Chicago and Still, Schreiber struggled to pay the perform, but the toilets were unreliable. to diversify. John Stein, a senior editor at Paris, and has Fortune 500 adver- rent. In 1999 he moved to Chicago, “Everything was on a shoestring budget,” Spotify AB who focuses on independent tisers. In 2015, Condé Nast, pub- where he could see more shows. Schreiber says. At the same time, the site music for the service, says that although lisher of the New Yorker, Vanity Fair, The next year he got a break when was working to broaden its coverage, not Pitchfork can still increase an artist’s and Vogue, bought Pitchfork for an Radiohead released the otherworldly just in terms of platforms but to take a less streams, “it’s definitely different than it undisclosed sum, and now Schreiber Kid A and Pitchfork contributor Brent parochial position on pop music. This made was maybe 10 years ago, where a good works in a comfortable office at DiCrescenzo penned an ecstatic but sense at a time when younger listeners—and review or a bad review from Pitchfork It expanded the Condé’s headquarters in One World less-than -comprehensible 10 review writers—were as interested in Taylor Swift festival to Paris could really, really change things.” Trade Center in lower Manhattan. that included lines such as “The butter- as Vampire Weekend. Schreiber scoffs at this, noting that The sale stunned the music world— scotch lamps along the walls of the tight More than anything, Schreiber wanted people are reading Pitchfork’s reviews Pitchfork warrants a 4.7 as a city square bled upward into the cobalt Pitchfork to keep growing. So he was open more than ever. According to ComScore luxury brand in the Condé mold— sky, which seemed as strikingly artificial when Condé approached the same year. At Inc., the site had 2.7 million visitors in yet it’s easy to see why Schreiber “Guys, Pitchfork and perfect as a wizard’s cap.” Like much of first, Fred Santarpia, Condé’s head of digital, October 2015; a year later, it had 4.1 million. liked the deal. Pitchfork was one the site’s writing, the piece was mocked for wanted to see whether Pitchfork would He’s vigorously pursuing his strategy to of the first sites to get how the is in the same its obtuseness. But what it lacked in clarity share videos on a Condé site called the make Pitchfork the No. 1 repository for music internet could mold listening it made up for in timeliness and clickability: Scene, which features digital shorts, series, content: It’s reviewing records that predate its habits, but now it’s surrounded business that It was one of the firstKid A reviews posted and documentaries. He thought Pitchfork existence to “fill in the gaps of our archive,” by digital rivals offering much online, and Radiohead fans spread it across content would make it easier to sell beer and In January, it he says. Pitchfork is also creating videos about more than snarky reviews. we are” the internet, accelerating Pitchfork’s traffic soda ads. In the course of these conversations, introduced a records it considers epochal and celebrating Streaming sites such as Spotify and, in turn, its influence. Santarpia asked if Schreiber would sell the site. beer website anniversaries of classics such as Radiohead’s OK bypass the music press, using algorithms to recommend tunes, For a while, Schreiber kept doing double duty as editor- Schreiber said he would. It wasn’t just that he’d Computer, which was released in 1997. “We wound and social media has turned anyone with a following into a in-chief and ad salesman. In 2004 he made a plea on the site read the New Yorker and Wired for years. He says up doing seven features and three videos,” says Mark tastemaker. “Kylie Jenner can blow up a song by posting it for a full-time advertising sales rep.