A while back, I sent an email to Pitchfork (about the same time they re-designed the site) complaining that the site was suffering an identity crisis -- it was becoming less of a site and more of a blog. Well, today, with the announcement that 'Fork was creating a sister site: Altered Zones which is meant to focus on DIY, experimental, and "leftfield pop," Pitchfork has stayed true to its roots while expanding into the indie media empire that it has become.
Among the blogs included are WLFY favs Gorilla vs. Bear and Raven Sings the Blues.
We've done our fair share of P-fork bashing on this site, but mostly out of the side of our mouths the way you bad mouth that really cool popular kid at school, because your respect him. Let's face it facts are facts and a mere mention by Pitchfork bumps hits, album sales, and cache. Rather than having an identity crisis, Pitchfork has become the 800 pound gorilla in the room by merging everything that you need -- tracks, reviews, videos, twitter feeds, news mentions, interviews, even a music festival -- into one behemoth of a site that, now, can control the indie universe. Well, maybe not fully, but it's pretty damn daunting to look at.
Calling Altered Zones a "blog collective" offers a serious opportunity to drive traffic to sites that do fantastic work. But, excuse me if I'm dubious about umbrella sites claiming democracy. I know we're all stealing from one another out here in the 'net wilds, but that's a fine line. The benefit of blogs (in what's essentially a post-blog world with the advent of Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr) is the same thing as having a buddy in the crows nest -- it's a personal relationship (in over 140 characters) that allows for a personal, in depth analysis. One of the reasons Zach and I have stayed doing this for so long for those 300 or so folks who read on a daily basis. When that opinion is compromised by a corporation or even a mother site, I fear that if you're in for a dime, you're in for a dollar.
We'll see how Altered Zones behaves, but let's hope that Altered Zones keeps the POVs of those who started the blogs. That the Pitchfork pinata stays full of musical candy, and they don't mind taking pot shots from us lowly, unaffiliated folk. Especially if they fuck it up.
Altered Zones launches July 7.
2 comments:
well put.
mmhmm. I was quite meh about the news, but you said it very well.
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