Pitchfork’s Decade In Music: P2K
Posted by Carlos Gabriel Ruiz on September 25th, 2009The Decade in News
by Pitchfork Staff
The most important news story of the past decade doesn’t concern a specific band or genre or trend. It’s the story of how music news itself has changed. Think back to the turn of the millennium: How did you find out that your favorite band had a new album coming out? Sure, the few of us with fast enough internet connections might have read about it online, but it’s more likely that you read about it in a magazine, saw a poster at your local record store, or maybe, maybe heard about it from MTV News. These days, that magazine has probably folded, your local record store is now a Best Buy, and MTV just wants to show you “Hills” spin-offs. You’re going to find out about that album from a music news blog or site, or even from the band themselves, via their own web portal or Twitter. And you’re probably going to end up hearing that album much, much sooner than the band intended, thanks to a leak.
As the decade progressed, music news got faster and more crowded. In 2000, the news section was just a side-note to the reviews and features on Pitchfork. By 2005, we posted new stories once a day. (We even took Fridays off!) In 2009, we’re updating anywhere from 10 to 20 times a day– not to mention posting often to our Twitter feed. Music news has also become less controlled, by labels and publicists as well as by the artists themselves. Wavves has a breakdown on stage in Barcelona? People halfway across the world will hear about it as it happens, and video will pop up the next morning. Kanye divebombs Taylor Swift at the VMAs? If you haven’t posted about it within three minutes, you’re too late. It’s a small miracle that anyone can keep up.
So let’s take a breather, and a look back: The Decade in News traces the ups and downs, zigs and zags that the music Pitchfork covers has taken over the past 10 years. From Britney to Bright Eyes, from the Strokes to Vampire Weekend, from Napster to the iPhone, it’s all here. And it’s enough to make any band that faded from the spotlight prior to the 2000s say, “God, I’m glad the internet didn’t exist when we were around.” –Amy Phillips
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