Australian Rolling Stone magazine moves from Bauer stable to independent publisher Paper Riot
Matthew Coyte
Rolling Stone Australia has left the Bauer Media stable with editor-in-chief Matthew Coyte stepping up as an independent publisher, potentially saving the historic title from the chopping block.
Coyte, who has edited Rolling Stone Australia since 2008, bought the title last month and is publishing it through his new company Paper Riot Pty Ltd. Although Coyte said Bauer was not looking to drop the title, changes sweeping through the German-owned publishing group this year including the axing of women’s magazine Madison and the merging of teams from Cleo and Dolly suggest Rolling Stone had an uncertain future with the publisher.
Coyte told Encore: “While Bauer didn’t necessarily see it as a viable business for a small operation I thought it was a very viable business, and I look forward to doing some of the things that being a smaller business will allow me to pursue.”
The December edition went to print yesterday with Bauer continuing to provide print and distribution services for the title.
The Australian edition of Rolling Stone is the longest running international edition of the magazine having launched in 1972. ACP magazines, now Bauer Media, purchased the title in 2008.
As well as keeping the magazine’s four full-time staff and freelancers, Coyte has re-hired sales boss Amy Gates who had recently been made redundant by Bauer. Gates takes on the role of national advertising, sponsorship and events manager signalling Coyte’s plans to extend the brand further into the events space.
The magazine, which has a circulation of around 18,000 in Australia, does not currently have an Australian website but Coyte said that could be a possibility in the new year.
“Rollingstone.com is fairly popular and it’s been pretty entrenched with Australian users so it’s been a little bit daunting to take on as a competitor,” Coyte said. “But all going well we should be looking in the new year at having a bit more of a symbiotic relationship with them.”
A Bauer spokeswoman said: “The new publishing arrangement has been a great outcome for Matt, Rolling Stone and Bauer.”
Megan Reynolds
This piece first appeared in Encore. Download it now on iPad, iPhone and Android tablet devices.
Congrats to Matt and Amy on this huge move!! Both are such advocates of the title and will give it the care and attention it deserves as it moves into the events space even further.
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Good on him.
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Congrats Matt, awesome news!
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Huge news! Well done Matt.
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It’s a win-win. Bauer gets to save face by not having to shut another massively under performing title and the international Rolling Stone brand doesn’t have to close yet another international license. That said, Rolling Stone desperately needs local content – not simply suck up US stuff that’s neither of interest or relevance to a local audience. And that requires $$$$ – something I doubt a self-publisher has much of.
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Great news….good luck with it Matt, I am sure you will succeed! Sharon
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Just as another point, we’ll probably see a lot more “independent” publishers popping up with a one-magazine operation. Men’s Fitness is another one I can think of. The problem there is, most, if not all the content will be lifted from overseas editions as the owner tries to make a buck from circulation, extremely low overheads and a decreasing paucity of ad revenues. The sad thing here is that it does nothing at all for local journalists, photographers, designers, stylists, models etc, etc. It would never happen – but it would be nice if there was some legislation about a percentage of local content (as happens in TV and radio.)
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I am sure the 7 people in this country that still listen to Neil Young’s ‘Harvest’ and The Grateful Dead will be greatly relieved of the magazine’s continuance.
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Congrats Matt — great to see another independent editor/publisher taking on the Stone franchise as I did when I launched the Aussie version in 1971 (not ’72 as it says above) — best of luck — Phillip Frazer
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Wish you the best Matt and good on you for saving it … and long live Rolling Stone and it grows bigger. Love to see website to it . Caroline Russo
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