Welcome to the new Rolling Stone. As of today, we’ve given both our magazine and our website complete makeovers. Starting with our current issue, featuring Cardi B and Offset on the cover, the magazine appears in a big, bold, glossy format, with more pages and richer photography. Each issue will feature more new music, more political coverage, more of the best and brightest in pop culture. Our logo has also undergone a subtle but significant update – for more on that, watch the video above. What isn’t changing is our commitment to deep reporting, unforgettable interviews, criticism you can trust and political journalism that speaks truth to power.
RollingStone.com will remain the definitive source for breaking music news while adding more of everything that makes the site great: original video, reviews, lists, commentary, and in-depth features. As we produce more stories, we’re giving them to you in a way that’s easier to navigate and more visually dynamic, and we’re improving the mobile experience as well. To fuel both the new website and the new magazine, we’ve staffed up in a big way, making significant hires to our editorial team in our core areas of music, politics and pop culture.
In all, it’s a new Rolling Stone for a new era, where stars are born and styles transformed faster than ever, where the president challenges the media at every turn. “Rolling Stone is poised to break more news, launch deeper investigations, and produce the kind of unique, reported narrative journalism and rich profiles we are most known for,” says Editor Jason Fine. “We are evolving what we cover and how we cover it, without losing our core focus and commitment to quality journalism.”
“As Rolling Stone evolves its worldview, our founding mission remains the same – to make outstanding content that prioritizes quality storytelling,” explains Rolling Stone President Gus Wenner, son of Rolling Stone founder and Editorial Director Jann Wenner. “Excellence remains core to all we do; we have revamped our products across digital and print to best showcase and monetize this exceptional quality, including a more robust live events business as an extension of our editorial mission and voice.”
Earlier this year, Penske Media Corp. made a strategic investment in Rolling Stone. PMC has grown substantially since forming in 2004, even as the magazine industry as a whole has suffered economically, and it shares our vision for a new Rolling Stone. It has invested significantly – including in the growth of editorial staff – to give us the right tools to make it happen. “The Rolling Stone business has a unique balance of mission and impact, not to mention some of the most talented content creators and investigative journalists,” says Jay Penske, CEO of Penske Media. “There is so much opportunity ahead for this incredible business and brand; the relaunch is just the beginning.”