Music publication Pitchfork has dominated the online community for almost three decades, earning the title of “the most trusted voice in music.” In a move that has us frankly baffled, it is being merged into men’s interests mag GQ, which is one of Condé Nast’s various publications. We don’t think anyone had this merger on their 2024 bingo cards.
The choice for this merger came after “a careful evaluation of Pitchfork’s performance.” Condé Nast chief content officer Anna Wintour called it “the best path forward for the brand so that our coverage of music can continue to thrive within the company.”
Even after this seemingly careful consideration, this decision was dropped on staff rather abruptly. On the afternoon of January 17th, all Pitchfork employees were sent a link to a mandatory 1:30 pm, 15-minute all-hands meeting with Wintour. During this meeting, several people were informed that Friday would be their last day.
Some Condé Nast employees have since leaked screenshots from the company’s Slack channel. One post by Condé Nast vice president, Melissa Consorte, reads “Pitchfork is not going away as a brand.”
“This is not a terrible thing for us — GQ and P4K [Pitchfork] were getting in each other’s lanes and this makes it easier for us to use them in a complementary fashion,” she continued. “I think this will only help P4K feel bigger and more recognizable in the long term.”
One of the biggest fears is that Pitchfork will lose one of its biggest strengths, being a music-only publication. There is also the concern that Condé Nast will attempt to rebrand the rather inclusive publication as “men’s interest” to better align with their current brands. Considering the massive gender bias that already exists within the industry, this could be a colossal setback for gender equality in music media. All of this would also deal a huge blow to smaller artists who use Pitchfork to gain exposure.
However, Condé Nast is aware of these concerns and is assuring staffers that neither will be the case. “Pitchfork is not being shut down or rebranded as GQ — from a client and user perspective, everything will look the same” reads another Slack post by Consorte.
“Pitchfork will remain a standalone brand but the internal reporting structure is changing,” writes Joanna Melissakis, Head of Sales, Beauty at Condé Nast.
A Condé Nast audience development editor did share on X (formally Twitter) that “by volume, Pitchfork has the highest daily site visitors of any of our titles … despite scant resourcing, esp from corporate.” [The account now seems to be deleted]. If that is accurate the company would be smart to take a “don’t fix what isn’t broken” approach.
This news also meant the loss of at least twelve members of staff. Sources have said that ten of those layoffs were editorial, which would leave Pitchfork with an editorial staff of eight. That is pretty lean considering the company’s size and reach.
[Editor’s Note: It’s worth noting a large-scale Condé Nast employee walk out took place this week, shutting down various events, photoshoots, and interviews. Such as a Vanity Fair session with Anne Hathaway, which the actress left in the middle of in solidarity with workers. So it’s clearly not all smooth sailing at the publisher.]
