Pitchfork Music Festival is a pillar of the Chicago arts scene. Those are the words of Condé Nast, the company that bought Pitchfork nearly 10 years ago. They were repeated again recently, when Condé Nast announced they were shutting the festival down.
Pitchfork Music Festival, like the website, began in Chicago. Claiming it had an important place in the local music ecosystem is understating the point: despite some gripes about local acts the festival was one of the best advertisements for music in the city that we had. Few things (other than house music) are as quintessentially Chicago as Pitchfork Music Festival.
Nor is anything more “quintessentially Chicago” than Pitchfork leaving Chicago for abroad. Pitchfork has created several overseas offshoots of the music festival, taking place in cities like London and Paris. Those, as far as we can tell, will continue. It’s only and solely the flagship Chicago festival that is being shut down at the moment.
Don’t look to Condé Nast for explanations. In a nearly info-free release, the publishing conglomerate behind Vogue merely observed that “the music festival landscape continues to change,” and left it at that.
Giving them ownership over something that people feel passionate about is asking to have your heart broken, then stomped on, then sold in a special GQ-branded package of human organs and golf towels at Target.
You’d think there’d be a longer explanation, or at least a loving retrospective, from the people that bought the keys to Pitchfork. But apparently there are few people left over there who have any vital connection to the history of the publication or its core festival. In January 2024, Condé Nast announced layoffs at Pitchfork as part of a plan to merge the site with — of all things — men’s magazine GQ. Our tips on the best leather duster for Fall and new shoegaze from The Micrococks. Under Condé Nast’s ownership, probably the most important music publication in the world expanded dramatically, contracted abruptly and now is just another zombie brand in the portfolio of a company that owns a lot of them.
This is not an I Told You So post. It’s an Everyone Warned You post. This is what happens when you let ghouls gain control over culture. They will strip it bare and dismantle it for parts the moment it becomes more profitable to do so. Giving them ownership over something that people feel passionate about is asking to have your heart broken, then stomped on, then sold in a special GQ-branded package of human organs and golf towels at Target.
When you tell people there’s more to a festival than a line-up and a fan-friendly finance plan, Pitchfork Music Festival was the festival that backed up your point. The collective whole was greater than any individual act. The acts were sometimes funny and sometimes sublime, sometimes at the same time. It’s exactly the kind of thing that could never be cooked up on the 28th floor at GQ’s headquarters. It’s unsurprising that despite their epitaphs for pillars, they really didn’t care what they had. Why did we ever believe otherwise?
5 Mag Issue 217
Out Now
HOUSE OF FOUK: Originally published in 5 Mag Issue #217 featuring Dutch deep house DJ and production duo Fouk, Paris Cesvette, Azaad, Thando and more. Become a member for $2/month and get every issue in your inbox right now…
