Review Summary: Breakdowns
Sputnikmusic, or simply Sputnik, is a music website offering music criticism and music news alongside features commonly associated with wiki-style websites. The format of the website is unusual in that it allows both professional and amateur content to co-exist, distinguishing it from similar music websites such as Pitchfork Media and Tiny Mix Tapes, as well as collecting and presenting a wiki-style metadata database in a manner comparable to Rate Your Music and IMDb.
Over time, the site has come to be established as a credible source, becoming a featured reviewer on Metacritic,[1] and being used as a news source by other websites.[2] As a general rule, the staff writers tend to focus on new releases; however, any user is welcome to submit a review of any album that has been officially released. All genres of music are covered by the site, with dedicated subsections for metal, punk, indie, rock, hip-hop, and pop; an 'Other' section also caters to electronica, jazz, reggae, trip-hop, classical music, and soundtracks.
The musical focus of the site's staff has often been on non-mainstream artists, with the likes of Burial, Kidcrash, Cynic, Kayo Dot, Off Minor, and The Tallest Man on Earth performing strongly in the staff-voted Best of 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2010 features.
