In November 2024, when Condé Nast announced the end of Chicago’s Pitchfork Music Festival, the discourse focused on the changing economic and social climate for large-scale music events and the tension between art and finance in the festival business. The Pitchfork fest had started in 2006 when the online music magazine collaborated with local promoter and jazz drummer Mike Reed , who’d just launched his production company, At Pluto. It swiftly became a destination event, eventually attracting more than 60,000 visitors per year with its eclectic, expertly curated bill and relaxed atmosphere. The festival celebrated underground music culture offstage as well, with creatively chosen vendors that included a showcase of poster artists by Flatstock and a record fair hosted by CHIRP Radio.

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