AMG is arguably much lower than pitchfork at the moment. Pitchfork is pretty much irrelevant too, but they still have a persona that they’re known for, and are clearly still able to fund their site with ads enough that they don’t need to ask for contributions from their readers. I think the average music fan probably still has an idea of what Pitchfork is, but they probably don’t know what AMG is.
AMG would have been better off presenting Erlewine as the primary voice it centered around since he did have a distinct voice as a reviewer. But instead the way the site is set up it just comes across as faceless and boring.