Pitchfork Media sold to Conde Nast
AS first reported by the New York Times, numerous Chicago media outlets have reported that Conde Nast, a New York print and digital media giant, has purchased Chicago-based Pitchfork Media. The fallacy here is that while Pitchfork does have a Chicago presence, it is not Chicago based.
Pitchfork does indeed have operations and staff in Chicago. They produce a music festival each summer in Union Park on the West Side not far from the United Center. Still Live Nation produces both the giant Lollapalooza and the smaller Chicago Country Music Festival in Chicago and no one refers to Live Nation as Chicago based. Pitchfork Media has an office in Chicago but they are based in Brooklyn, New York. Look at it this way: The owner of Pitchfork, Ryan Schreiber told Variety that only he and Chris Kaskie, the President of Pitchfork, are the sole investors and they are both located in Brooklyn. Since it is a private company, no financials were issued but virtually all the money goes into New York’s economy, not Chicago’s. Still Chicago didn’t lose something that it didn’t have.
Not that Chicago didn’t lose another opportunity to develop into a media center but that occurred years past. Schreiber started his on-line music media site two decades ago while living in Minneapolis. He moved first to Chicago where the business continued to grow. If Chicago possessed an institution that could identify and nurture young companies in the business of popular arts and entertainment, Pitchfork might have been a “Chicago-based” company but Schreiber moved on to Brooklyn where the digital and print content is created. Chicago is where the sales and advertising department is located. Conde Nast seems to see Pitchfork as a media company more than a music promoter. They will likely continue to produce their summer independent music festival as that is believed to be a big money maker. Even if Chicago lost the Pitchfork Festival hardly anyone would notice with so many festivals already here and an opportunity for a local business would open up.
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