Sputnikmusic

Not to be confused with Sputnik (news agency).

Sputnikmusic

Type	Music website
Format	Internet
Founder(s)	Jeremy Ferwerda[1]
Founded	2005; 20 years ago (2005)
Language	English
Website	sputnikmusic.com

Sputnikmusic (abbreviated as Sputnik) is a music website that publishes music reviews and news entries. The site hosts both professional and amateur content,^[2] covering metal, punk, indie, rock, hip-hop, pop and other styles. Its reviews are used by the review aggregate Metacritic.

Reception

Metacritic incorporates Sputnikmusic's staff reviews into its review aggregate ratings.^[3] The site was cited by The Guardian^[4] and Neil Daniels.^[5] Michael Miller wrote that "you're likely to fine [sic] a wide variety of opinions in the site".^[2] A Master's thesis utilized Sputnikmusic's music database for its research, due to its "focus on non-mainstream artists" and its "encompassing database".^[6] The ethnomusicologist Jorge Mercado Méndez references Sputnikmusic as an 'acclaimed' review source adjacent to Pitchfork,^[7] while musicologist Giuseppe Catani cites Sputnikmusic's Alex Robertson alongside the NME.^[8]

Stratification and rating systems

On Sputnikmusic, there are four levels of reviewers, which differentiate professional and amateur content:^[9]

• 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

Year	Artist	Album	Source
2006	Converge	No Heroes	[10]
2007	Burial	Untrue	[11]
2009	Animal Collective	Merriweather Post Pavilion	[12]
2010	The Tallest Man on Earth	The Wild Hunt	[13]
2011	Bon Iver	Bon Iver	[14]
2012	Swans	The Seer	[15]
2013	Julia Holter	Loud City Song	[16]
2014	Flying Lotus	You're Dead!	[17]
2015	Kendrick Lamar	To Pimp a Butterfly	[18]
2016	David Bowie	Blackstar	[19]
2017	The National	Sleep Well Beast	[20]
2018	Kacey Musgraves	Golden Hour	[21]
2019	Laura Stevenson	The Big Freeze	[22]
2020	Charli XCX	how i'm feeling now	[23]
2021	Mastodon	Hushed and Grim	[24]
2022	Ethel Cain	Preacher's Daughter	[25]
2023	JPEGMafia and Danny Brown	Scaring the Hoes	[26]
2024	Charli XCX	Brat	[27]

References

1. "Sputnikmusic - Musicians of Sputnik #5: Kannatama « Staff Blog".
2. 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. Swash, Rosie (9 March 2007). "Does Joss Stone need to go to album rehab?". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
5. Daniels, Neil (2014). Killers: The Origins of Iron Maiden, 1975-1983. Soundcheck Books LLP. pp. 39–40. ISBN 978-0957570023. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
6. 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.
7. Méndez, Jorge Mercado (July 2022). "1". Caribbean Vaporwave: The Internet as Social Amplification (PhD thesis). Kent State University. ProQuest 2734709294. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
8. Catani, Giuseppe (2020). Pick & rock: Quando la musica va a canestro. Arcana. p. 177. ISBN 9788862318822.
9. "Staff". Sputnikmusic. Retrieved 16 February 2024.
10. "mx: Staff Picks: Top 15 Of 2006 | Sputnikmusic". www.sputnikmusic.com. Retrieved 2023-12-12.
11. "mx: Staff Picks: Top 50 Albums Of 2007 | Sputnikmusic". www.sputnikmusic.com. Retrieved 2023-12-12.
12. "mx: Staff Picks: Top Albums of 2009 | Sputnikmusic". www.sputnikmusic.com. Retrieved 2023-12-12.
13. "Staff's Top 50 Albums of 2010: 10 – 1". Sputnikmusic. 5 January 2011. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
14. "Staff's Top 50 Albums of 2011: 10 – 1". Sputnikmusic. 12 January 2012. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
15. "Staff's Top 50 Albums of 2012: 10 – 1". Sputnikmusic. 4 January 2013. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
16. "Staff's Top 50 Albums of 2013: 10 – 1". Sputnikmusic. 18 December 2013. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
17. "Staff's Top 50 Albums of 2015: 10 – 1". Sputnikmusic. 17 December 2014. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
18. "Staff's Top 50 Albums of 2015: 10 – 1". Sputnikmusic. 18 December 2015. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
19. "Staff's Top 50 Albums of 2016: 10 – 1". Sputnikmusic. 23 December 2016. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
20. "Staff's Top 50 Albums of 2017: 10 – 1". Sputnikmusic. 22 December 2017. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
21. "Staff's Top 50 Albums of 2018: 10 – 1". Sputnikmusic. 21 December 2018. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
22. "Staff's Top 50 Albums of 2019: 10 – 1". Sputnikmusic. 20 December 2019. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
23. "Staff's Top 50 Albums of 2020: 10 – 1". Sputnikmusic. 23 December 2020. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
24. "Staff's Top 50 Albums of 2021: 10 – 1". Sputnikmusic. 22 December 2021. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
25. "Staff's Top 50 Albums of 2022: 10 – 1". Sputnikmusic. 21 December 2022. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
26. "Staff's Top 50 Albums of 2023: 10 – 1". Sputnikmusic. 21 December 2023. Retrieved 7 February 2024.
27. "Staff's Top 50 Albums of 2024: 10 - 1". Sputnikmusic. 21 December 2024. Retrieved 21 December 2024.