Blue-chip publisher Conde Nast, owner of Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, Wired and fifteen other respected publications, has acquired the digital-native music publisher Pitchfork for an undisclosed sum. The news was first reported by the New York Times. Pitchfork staff will now report to Fred Santarpia, Conde Nast's Chief Digital Officer and the lead behind the acquisition.
Pitchfork was founded in 1996 by Minnesota native Ryan Schreiber, who quickly relocated the nascent publication to Chicago. It now maintains offices in Brooklyn, Los Angeles, Chicago and Paris. In addition to its website, which the company claims draws over 6 million unique visitors per month, Pitchfork produces music festivals in Chicago and Paris, maintains an online video division as well as a quarterly print publication launched in 2013, The Pitchfork Review.
Speaking to Ian Rogers for Billboard four years ago, WME head of music Marc Geiger spoke of the influence that a positive review from Pitchfork has on an artist's career, saying that "when they gave a review over an eight to an artist, we'd get 40 calls to book them."