alyaza

alyaza, 4 months ago

i think it’s very clear now that the lack of unionization in the gaming industry will need to change, or every year or two or whatever arbitrary interval we’ll see an astronomical number of people losing their jobs all at once in this way.

alyaza, 4 months ago

i’d argue the issue is less with music and more with journalism–although Pitchfork is probably in a worse situation than the typical journalistic outlet–because we’re a month into 2024 and layoffs have badly decimated Sports Illustrated, the LA Times, TIME, and a bunch of other publications. and outside of the separately unionized websites (of which Pitchfork is one) Conde Nast’s website portfolio just went on a one-day strike to protest the cuts they’re proposing (5%) to the workforce.

alyaza, 4 months ago

i do suspect the publications with a niche like Pitchfork are basically goners without a change–actual newspapers can at least pretend to limp along in a severely gutted fashion for years (because large swathes of the industry are doing that right now, especially smaller papers acquired by hedge funds) but you can’t… really do that with a publication that prides itself on having contrarian views and an independent tone of voice. something like Pitchfork completely rides or dies by the quality of its writers. G/O Media gutting its unique voices are why i don’t read Deadspin despite having religiously done so when it was under the first iteration of Gawker, and why i support Defector now.

alyaza, 4 months ago

almost certainly yeah