Sputnikmusic

Summary

Sputnikmusic (abbreviated as Sputnik) is a music website that publishes music reviews and news entries. The site platforms both professional and amateur content,[2] which distinguishes it against similar sites such as Pitchfork, Tiny Mix Tapes, Rate Your Music and IMDb.

Sputnikmusic
TypeMusic website
FormatInternet
Founder(s)Jeremy Ferwerda[1]
Founded2005; 19 years ago (2005)
LanguageEnglish
Websitewww.sputnikmusic.com

Sputnikmusic is a recognised source on the aggregate Metacritic. Sputnikmusic provides a reference point for numerous other sites for the purposes of musical analysis, covering metal, punk, indie, rock, hip-hop, pop and other styles.

History edit

Sputnikmusic was founded in January 2005 as an offshoot of the Mxtabs network, where album reviews appeared on the MusicanForums section. The site developed a stratification system to distinguish its professional Staff-generated content from its amateur User-generated content. In 2006, the site's Staff writers were recognised as a professional source by the aggregation site Metacritic.[3] The site has since been recognised for its subjectively grounded review style,[4] the credibility of its professional content,[5][6][7] the role of its user-generated content,[8][9] the diversity of its opinions,[10] the extent of its coverage,[11] and its comprehensive database,[12] as well as its willingness to promote obscure artists such as Off Minor, Kayo Dot, Iosonouncane and Trophy Scars. The ethnomusicologist Jorge Mercado Méndez references Sputnikmusic as an 'acclaimed' review source adjacent to Pitchfork,[13] while Giuseppe Catani cites Sputnikmusic's Alex Robertson alongside the NME.[14]

The website has a diverse userbase.[2]

Stratification and rating systems edit

On Sputnikmusic, there are currently four levels of reviewer, which differentiate professional and amateur content:[15]

  • Staff Reviewers: these are the editors who contribute to the professional section by producing analyses and reviews. Their reviews are referenced on Metacritic.
  • Contributors: These writers are recognized by the current Staff members as good enough writers to be featured. Nevertheless, they are not taken into account by Metacritic or Wikipedia.
  • Emeritus: status given to former Staff members who no longer contribute to the site. Their reviews are considered professional.
  • User: this category includes all other people who are not listed at a higher level. They can add new reviews, artists and albums to the database, as well as edit and submit reviews or lists.

The Sputnikmusic notation system is based on a 5-point system, starting at 1.0 and ending at 5.0 in 0.5 steps. Each note is associated with a word, ranging from "Awful" for 1.0 to "Classic" for 5.0.

Staff members are also allowed to score in 0.1 steps.

Each album analysis shows the score given by the reviewer, but also the score given by the other reviewers on an associated page where an average is calculated from all the scores.

A bar chart also shows the number of ratings each score has received for each album.

Album of the Year edit

Year Artist Album Source
2006 Converge No Heroes [16]
2007 Burial Untrue [17]
2009 Animal Collective Merriweather Post Pavilion [18]
2010 The Tallest Man on Earth The Wild Hunt [19]
2011 Bon Iver Bon Iver [20]
2012 Swans The Seer [21]
2013 Julia Holter Loud City Song [22]
2014 Flying Lotus You're Dead! [23]
2015 Kendrick Lamar To Pimp a Butterfly [24]
2016 David Bowie Blackstar [25]
2017 The National Sleep Well Beast [26]
2018 Kacey Musgraves Golden Hour [27]
2019 Laura Stevenson The Big Freeze [28]
2020 Charli XCX How I'm Feeling Now [29]
2021 Mastodon Hushed and Grim [30]
2022 Ethel Cain Preacher's Daughter [31]
2023 JPEGMafia and Danny Brown Scaring the Hoes [32]

References edit

  1. ^ "Sputnikmusic - Musicians of Sputnik #5: Kannatama « Staff Blog".
  2. ^ a b Miller, Michael (2012). The Ultimate Digital Music Guide: The Best Way to Store, Organize, and Play Digital Music. Pearson Education. p. 538. ISBN 9780132982856.
  3. ^ The Administrators of Metacritic. "Sputnikmusic". Metacritic. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
  4. ^ Spitzer, Michael (2020). A History of Emotion in Western Music: A Thousand Years from Chant to Pop. Oxford University Press. p. 390. ISBN 9780190061777. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
  5. ^ Wilson, Scott A. (2015). Music at the Extremes: Essays on Sounds Outside the Mainstream. McFarland. p. 177. ISBN 9781476620060. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
  6. ^ Swash, Rosie (9 March 2007). "Does Joss Stone need to go to album rehab?". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
  7. ^ Daniels, Neil (2014). Killers: The Origins of Iron Maiden, 1975-1983. Soundcheck Books LLP. pp. 39–40. ISBN 978-0957570023. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
  8. ^ Lin, Norman; Kajita, Shoji; Mase, Kenji (2008). "Mobile User Behavior and Attitudes during Story-based Kanji Learning". The JALT CALL Journal. 4 (1): 3–18. doi:10.29140/jaltcall.v4n1.50. ISSN 1832-4215. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
  9. ^ Prichard, Caleb (2013). "Training L2 Learners to Use Facebook Appropriately and Effectively". JSTOR. CALICO Journal. Retrieved 26 July 2023.
  10. ^ Miller, Michael (2012). The Ultimate Digital Music Guide: The Best Way to Store, Organize, and Play Digital Music. Pearson Education, Inc. p. 538. ISBN 978-0-7897-4844-7. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
  11. ^ Shaikh, Sadaf (14 November 2019). "THE ANTI-EARWORM AGENDA". Verve Magazine. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
  12. ^ Levine, Lauren E. (May 2015). Act Like a Punk, Sing Like a Feminist: A Longitudinal Content Analysis of Feminist Themes in Punk Rock Song Lyrics, 1970-2009 (MA). University of North Texas. Retrieved 26 July 2023.
  13. ^ Méndez, Jorge Mercado (July 2022). "1". Caribbean Vaporwave: The Internet as Social Amplification (PhD thesis). Kent State University. ProQuest 2734709294. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
  14. ^ Catani, Giuseppe (2020). Pick & rock: Quando la musica va a canestro. Arcana. p. 177. ISBN 9788862318822.
  15. ^ "Staff". Sputnikmusic. Retrieved 16 February 2024.
  16. ^ "mx: Staff Picks: Top 15 Of 2006 | Sputnikmusic". www.sputnikmusic.com. Retrieved 2023-12-12.
  17. ^ "mx: Staff Picks: Top 50 Albums Of 2007 | Sputnikmusic". www.sputnikmusic.com. Retrieved 2023-12-12.
  18. ^ "mx: Staff Picks: Top Albums of 2009 | Sputnikmusic". www.sputnikmusic.com. Retrieved 2023-12-12.
  19. ^ "Staff's Top 50 Albums of 2010: 10 – 1". Sputnikmusic. 5 January 2011. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
  20. ^ "Staff's Top 50 Albums of 2011: 10 – 1". Sputnikmusic. 12 January 2012. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
  21. ^ "Staff's Top 50 Albums of 2012: 10 – 1". Sputnikmusic. 4 January 2013. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
  22. ^ "Staff's Top 50 Albums of 2013: 10 – 1". Sputnikmusic. 18 December 2013. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
  23. ^ "Staff's Top 50 Albums of 2015: 10 – 1". Sputnikmusic. 17 December 2014. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
  24. ^ "Staff's Top 50 Albums of 2015: 10 – 1". Sputnikmusic. 18 December 2015. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
  25. ^ "Staff's Top 50 Albums of 2016: 10 – 1". Sputnikmusic. 23 December 2016. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
  26. ^ "Staff's Top 50 Albums of 2017: 10 – 1". Sputnikmusic. 22 December 2017. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
  27. ^ "Staff's Top 50 Albums of 2018: 10 – 1". Sputnikmusic. 21 December 2018. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
  28. ^ "Staff's Top 50 Albums of 2019: 10 – 1". Sputnikmusic. 20 December 2019. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
  29. ^ "Staff's Top 50 Albums of 2020: 10 – 1". Sputnikmusic. 23 December 2020. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
  30. ^ "Staff's Top 50 Albums of 2021: 10 – 1". Sputnikmusic. 22 December 2021. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
  31. ^ "Staff's Top 50 Albums of 2022: 10 – 1". Sputnikmusic. 21 December 2022. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
  32. ^ "Staff's Top 50 Albums of 2023: 10 – 1". Sputnikmusic. 21 December 2023. Retrieved 7 February 2024.