Media conglomerate Condé Nast announced this month the news and reviews music website Pitchfork would be folded into the men’s magazine GQ.

Pitchfork started as an independent magazine in 1996. Three years later, the site relocated to Chicago, where it became lauded for its insightful reviews across genres. The company relocated for the last time to New York in 2011, and was acquired by Condé Nast nine years ago.

Pitchfork got into the music festival business as a curator of a 2005 festival. Now the Pitchfork Music Fest is held in Chicago’s Union Park every year. The festival is expected to continue this summer.

Reset’s Sasha-Ann Simons spoke with Pitchfork founder Ryan Schreiber, former Pitchfork president Chris Kaskie and former executive editor Amy Phillips.

Journalists Britt Julious, a music critic for the Chicago Tribune, and Alejandro Hernandez, a freelance music writer in Chicago, later joined Simons to discuss Pitchfork’s influence and what the changes mean for the future of music journalism.

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On Pitchfork’s move to Chicago

Ryan Schreiber, founder: “I was raised by Minneapolis music culture, and it was a wonderful place to grow up, but it was also kind of remote … And in the 80s and early 90s, I was really fascinated by what was happening in Chicago and music at that time, like the punk and jazz and post rock scenes – labels like Touch and Go, Drag City, Thrill Jockey, then all these clubs [like] Fireside Bowl, Hideout. The first time I drove to Chicago was to see Yo La Tengo at the Metro with the Magnetic Fields and Lambchop. That was 1997 … It was just awe inspiring.”

Chris Kaskie, former president: “We all felt [excited] about both [Pitchfork’s] potential as well as how we could do [music journalism] in a way that … wasn’t dictated by outside forces.

On how Pitchfork filled a niche for music discovery in the 90s and early 2000s

Schreiber: “I think at that time music magazines were kind of starting to suffer … a lot of the sort of music discovery aspects and the curatorial aspects fell by the wayside. To me, it was like, well, we’re coming into this new decade of the 2000s and we’re in this position to point the way forward. Being able to recognize artists and introduce them to our audience, and have people kind of be willing to follow us … was really thrilling.”

On how Pitchfork Music Festival brought together all parts of the music industry, and artists like Kendrick Lamar and Lady Gaga before they were big

Schreiber: “In 2012, I think … Kendrick Lamar playing the blue stage … and Lady Gaga, showing up … was really surprising. But the most special [thing] is the way that the festival kind of served as an extended family reunion … [Backstage] it felt like a whole communal moment for all of the writers, contributors, editors and all the other people in the labels, industry … It managed to kind of create a destination festival in Chicago, which actually drew from the coast… The actual, main story’s right here.”

On why Pitchfork’s closure came as a huge surprise

Britt Julious, Chicago Tribune: “I was deeply confused because Pitchfork in my mind is such an institution that I never imagined anything would happen to it. We really don’t have a music publication that straddles the line between underground and mainstream. I assumed by that stature that it would never really lose its place or have any sort of folding into another publication like that, that I think in particular was the most shocking to me.”

On the instability of music journalism

Julious: “It’s tough out there. Even [in] 2013 or so, publications were laying off people, they were closing down. It wasn’t as easy as it was maybe in the 90s or early 2000s. There were already sort of major changes happening.”

“[Layoffs] really just seem to be happening indiscriminately – maybe due to the wrong types of financial interests … forcing these places to cut down because even if they’re doing fine, they want them to be making some ridiculous profit … Unfortunately, there isn’t this sort of abundance of outlets that used to exist before where you could pivot or find someplace new, and it’s really sad. We are losing these really great writers.”

On the future of music journalism – and if another ‘Pitchfork’ is possible

Julious: “I don’t think it is [although] new publications are coming about all the time. I’m thinking of something like Defector, which is a worker-owned organization. [But] that sort of monoculture which allowed for something like Pitchfork to grow from the underground to the mainstream – it’s really, really hard to do. And the way that people consume media now, [through] TikTok, Instagram, Twitter … doesn’t allow for the sharing of information in the way that sort of traditional media requires.”

Amy Phillips, former executive editor: “The future does seem to live on social media, video platforms, but I do think there is still a very large appetite for long-form, well thought-out passionate criticism in the written word. … I still want to read that. I know a lot of people feel like that. So what form that takes? I don’t know, but I don’t think it’s going away.”

On why music journalism still matters

Alejandro Hernandez, freelance music writer: “I view it as a mirror. I’ve even kind of struggled like, ‘Man, is it even worth it to write about these silly songs in the grand scheme of society?’ But as I start to really think about it … we’re really analyzing the microcosms of our society and that’s important. I view it as [if] we’re documenting all the art that’s being consumed today so that way could be studied later on.”

Sasha-Ann Simons is the host of Reset. Follow her at @SashaAnnSimons.

Max Lubbers is a production fellow for WBEZ’s Reset with Sasha-Ann Simons.

Mendy Kong is a digital producer at WBEZ. Follow them @ngogejat.