Pitchfork ratings system

THE POWER OF ZERO-TO-10: “It is in the interest of Pitchfork—the editorial concern and the business concern—to cultivate its own galaxy of stars,” Caramanica writes. They typically receive high ratings on the website. And in many cases they play the Pitchfork Music Festival [being held this weekend in Chicago]. Here’s an unscientific statistic: Only two of the bands playing this year’s festival received a score lower than a 7.5 [out of 10] from the site for their most recent release… Reviews have individual bylines, but they represent the Pitchfork hive-mind. And Pitchfork is still happy to take down a big name every now and again. The new Eminem album received a 2.8, and the new M.I.A. album received a 4.4. A low rating still makes for good conversation, though, and page views. M.I.A. is one of the site’s prominent advertisers this week. But finding the next wave of stars remains Pitchfork’s primary goal. ‘What I’ve always felt was the main role of music criticism was to draw attention to new artists who are doing things,’ Schreiber said. (7/15a)