CHICAGO (CelebrityAccess) — Ryan Schreiber, the founder of the digital music magazine Pitchfork, announced that after 23 years, he’s leaving the company.
According to Billboard, Schreiber revealed his plan to exit the company in a memo sent to Pitchfork staff by parent company Condé Nast’s President Bob Sauerberg on Tuesday.
“I am immensely proud of all we’ve accomplished with Pitchfork. Its journey has been thrilling every step of the way, from its dial-up roots to its present-day status as an award-winning media company whose name is synonymous with the best in music journalism and events,” Schreiber said in the memo.
“I’ll always treasure what we’ve created and the wonderful friends I’ve made along the way. It’s been a wild ride for all of us and I’ll miss it, but looking to the future is a thrilling prospect. I’m excited to get to work on what’s next,” he added.
Schreiber founded Pitchfork in 1995 while working at a record store in Minneapolis, shortly after graduating from high school. Initially called Turntable, the site was updated once a month with music reviews focused primarily on the indie music but it switched to daily updates with expanded content after Schreiber relocated the company to Chicago in 1999.
Since then, Pitchfork has become a tastemaker for the indie music scene and is reputed to have had a role in breaking acts such as OK Go, Arcade Fire, Sufjan Stevens, Broken Social Scene, and Cold War Kids among numerous others.
As well, Pitchfork moved into live events, and in 2005, they curated the Intonation Music Festival in Chicago before launching their own branded Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago the following year.
The company was sold to publishing giant Condé Nast in 2015, with Schreiber remaining editor-in-chief of the publication following the sale.
