Publishing giant Condé Nast today announced that it has acquired Chicago-based indie music stalwart Pitchfork Media. The acquisition, which takes effect immediately, includes the entirely of Pitchfork’s digital and analogue media properties (pitchfork.com, online video imprint pitchfork.tv, print quarterly magazine Pitchfork Review), as well as the company's Pitchfork Music Festival concert series.
The financial terms of the acquisition were not made public.
It's a calculated grab by Condé Nast — which owns Vogue, Glamour, Wired, Bon Appetit, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair and many other household publications — a move intended not only to add a big-name online music imprint to its hefty playbook, but one that also seizes on Pitchfork’s coveted millennial appeal.
Fred Santarpia, Condé Nast chief digital officer, told The New York Times today that the acquisition brings “a very passionate audience of millennial males into our roster.”
In an email to Condé Nast’s staff, president (and soon to be CEO) Bob Sauerberg said the acquisition “reinforces our commitment to building Condé Nast’s premium digital network, focusing on distinctive editorial voices and engaging high-value millennial audiences.”
Pitchfork, which turns 20 next year, remains the most popular underground music-related publication on the Internet, with an audience consisting of more than 240,000 readers per day, and more than 1.5 million unique visitors each month.
The site’s influential album reviews have become practically the de facto standard — a "make" or "break" to up-and-coming bands — and cited as rousing initial mass interest in now-popular acts such as Arcade Fire, Broken Social Scene, and Titus Andronicus.
Pitchfork in April entered into an agreement to air pitchfork.tv, which produces documentaries and live performances of music acts, in syndication with Condé Nast’s new online video network The Scene.
Pitchfork founder Ryan Schreiber said in a press statement that the media group is “incredibly fortunate to have found in Condé Nast a team of people who share our commitment to editorial excellence,” and that the acquisition will allow Pitchfork “to extend our coverage of the artists and stories that shape the music landscape on every platform.”
“Condé Nast believes, as we do, that Pitchfork has built an editorial voice that stands strongly alongside its others, and that the integrity of that voice — and our opinions— are fundamental to our identity,” the company posted in an online statement. “We’re incredibly fortunate to have found in Condé Nast a group of people who share every aspect of our focus. Their 100+ years of experience in building brands marked by editorial integrity makes them a natural fit for Pitchfork, and their belief in what we do, combined with their additional expertise, will allow us to extend our coverage across all platforms while remaining true to the ideals that have made Pitchfork the most trusted voice in music.”
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