The big news in rock n’ roll circles is that Jann Wenner has finally thrown in the towel and put his beloved Rolling Stone on the market. This storied publication was the source of record for the music industry almost from its first issue way back in 1967.
A story in The New York Times by Sydney Ember refers to the historic magazine as “the counter-culture bible for baby boomers.” And in fact, Rolling Stone’s failure to evolve from its hippie roots goes a long way toward explaining why it’s now for sale.
Now, of course, the magazine industry is suffering in general, from Time to Esquire to Cosmo. But Rolling Stone’s demise is a story about an influential media brand simply not keeping up with the times – ironic for a publication that was once on the leading edge of musical trends and tastes.
Hindsight, as we know, is 20:20. But in this case, you could see this distress sale coming for years – a tough pill to swallow for the proud entrepreneur Wenner.
So what went wrong?
Generational vs. transitional
Like radio formats, a magazine like Rolling Stone had decisions to make – grow with your original fans way back at the beginning (the generational approach) OR become a transitional brand and continue to stay cutting edge with music, focusing your energies at young people.
In many ways, it’s analogous to Classic Rock (maintaining the same audience over the years) versus Alternative (targeting a younger audience that will eventually outgrow the brand).
Rolling Stone’s approach was the former. And while it continued to cover young bands, as well as genres like Hip-Hop, Alternative, EDM, its roots have always been with the music and the stars that originally made the magazine (and rock ‘n roll) great.
It can work for Classic Rock radio because there’s appeal not just for the music, but also for personalities and community. In the magazine biz, it’s much more about what’s on the printed page.
Digital denial
We’ve seen this in radio over the years with owners and CEOs as smart as Wenner. The reluctance to dive head first into digital and alternative platforms cost many brands – think MTV, another music powerhouse that failed to make the turn toward the future.
As the Times notes, a Wenner deal in 2001 with Disney for another holding, Us Weekly, created financial turbulence, making it difficult to invest deeply in digital assets. And that was a point in time when big publishing brands simply had to start thinking beyond the printing press.
On top of that, Ember reports that when it came to digital, “Wenner remained skeptical, with a stubbornness that hamstrung his company.” That was not the forward-thinking vision required to transition a proud, traditional music institution.
The audience evolution?
In many ways, Rolling Stone remained steadfastly loyal to remnants of the Woodstock generation. And yet, that culture (or counter-culture) has long eroded, as icons like Abbie Hoffman and Tom Hayden burned out and faded away.
Today, many of the core fans that enjoy Led Zeppelin, the Who, and the Rolling Stones actually represent the conservative end of the spectrum. Back in 2012, Arbitron studied how format fans lean politically. And their research showed that while early rockers may have been decidedly anti-war and pro-ecology back in 1968, today’s Classic Rock fans actually skew Republican.
Yet, Rolling Stone has been especially loyal to Democratic candidates, as well as sporting a strong left-wing ideology, perhaps to its mass appeal detriment. After all, it is a music magazine.
1,000 word essays
While attention spans have shrunk – think Twitter and PPM – Rolling Stone ignored the lessons from USA Today and other publications focused on more bite-sized news, information, and entertainment. Rolling Stone, on the other hand, has stayed with long-form journalism – reporting that rambles on for pages and pages, testing the patience of music fans looking to find out the newest bands and latest music trends.
Face the music
As writer Ember avers, Jann Wenner’s stubbornness has cost him his beloved magazine. But many of the answers evading the Rolling Stone team were research accessible if there was an openness to learning inconvenient truths – that perhaps the magazine was indeed getting long in the tooth. As we know all too well in radio, querying the audience doesn’t always identify the smoking gun or conjure up the elixir that can turn around a tired brand.
But a willingness to ask the hard questions, let the readership be heard, and be courageous enough to accept the reality the magazine wasn’t in step with the times is the first step in staging a pivot.
Even the greatest media brands need to be rethought, reimagined, and even rebooted every few years. Sometimes, this process becomes more difficult when the brand’s founder refuses to accept the societal and cultural changes that drive the zeitgeist of the moment.
Today, Jann Wenner is finally turning to a Millennial – his 27 year-old son Gus – to guide the publication’s future, and prepare it for its next incarnation. As he explained to the Times:
“I think it’s time for young people to run it.”
Actually, that time was a couple decades ago.
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The demise of affordable live music has led to the demise of young performers getting enough stage experience to learn how to entertain and to music becoming unimportant to younger people. This isn’t merely fashion but rather competence.
Bob, it’s clearly a different business model today, from radio to music to concerts to merch. Thanks for the comment.
A subscription to Rolling Stone was my “welcome home” gift upon returning from Viet Nam in 1968. I’ve been a subscriber ever since. I liked the transition from newspaper (where the ink rubbed off on my hands) to slick magazine, but the additional sections on Hip-Hop and Country–and the long political features–reduced the number of articles I read in each issue.
In ’68, that was a great gift. Rolling Stone was a dependable resource for a long, long time. Clearly, however, they lost their focus along the way. Thanks for the relatable story.
Mike! You stayed and stayed? I was another hard-core subber since 1968 but I finally threw the towel in 1981.
Robin, I did, too…and some point. It became ponderous and all I really wanted (at that time) was just to learn more about music, especially in the pre-Internet days.
I love that Rolling Stone talks politics. I look forward to Matt Taibbi’s columns and have read his books because of his columns. I don’t mind that they talk about different genres of music because lets face it the rock genre isn’t the be all end all anymore. With that being said I don’t think its politics that are killing them especially with Trumps approval ratings and the general rancor against government that mirrors the 60’s when Rolling Stone first came out. In fact this should be rallying cry for them to be the voice of the opposition because of their heritage.
Whens the last time you saw an advertisement for Rolling Stone? It wouldn’t hurt to rebrand and market to fans of other genres. I know radio works when it comes to advertising. Maybe Gus will turn to us to save the website or app.
As always great read Fred.
Amelia, you and I are (mostly) on the same page (no pun intended). The political analysis and other long-form stories can be fascinating. Yes, part of the problem is the rock mess, but I think that in order to remain cutting edge (and transitional), a magazine like Rolling Stone needs to keep retrenching with younger people leading the way. OR simply “go Classic Rock” and stay in the same lane they’re always been in- or better or worse.
And I’m similarly hopeful that Gus will do more than just sell it. Thanks for the thoughtful comment, and I’m glad I got the wheels turning.
Nonsense. Confusing the love of rock and roll with far left politics helped squash the Rolling Stone franchise. Wenner is an insipid jerk with a political and highly skewed musical agenda that simply had little appeal. Some of the hardest rocking and edgy people I know love this country and Rolling Stone certainly eschewed this audience group. They were sued many times for bad journalism, and they are now paying for past sins.
Wade, their think pieces ran the gamut – some were excellent and others may have missed the mark. But as we discussed in the post – and your reiterate, too – their compass may have malfunctioned at one point or another. Appreciate the comment.