SINGAPORE will take centre stage to help Rolling Stone sing to a wider audience.
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For the first time in five decades, Rolling Stone is accepting an outside investor. “We see an enormous opportunity to diversify the brand into new markets and new areas of business”.
Wenner Media, which owns the almost 50-year-old music magazine, will sell a 49% stake in the publication to Singapore-based social music company BandLab Technologies.
The Rolling Stone deal was first tabled about 15 months ago, after Mr Kuok was introduced to Mr Wenner by the Forbes family. BandLab would not be involved editorially.
According to a press release on Sunday (Sep 25), BandLab Technologies, led and co-founded by Kuok Meng Ru, will focus on expanding Rolling Stone’s business in new markets such as Asia. “It publishes 12 global editions in countries including Australia, Indonesia and Japan”. Mr Kuok is the son of Singapore businessman Kuok Khoon Hong, founder of Wilmar International.
“Rolling Stone’s impact on culture over the years has been immeasurable and I’m truly honored to be joining the team on the next phase of its journey”, he said.
Other recent acquisitions include Composr, a European iOS and Web music-making service and Mono Creators Inc, the San Francisco-based design studio that creates high-end instrument cases, straps and accessories for musicians, reported Bloomberg. BandLab, which he launched in 2015, is a social network for musicians as well as fans.
The deal comes amid a downward trend in traditional print advertising. That includes 22 million domestic digital monthly users, almost 18 million social fans and followers, and nearly 12 million readers of the US print publication.
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The magazine also continues to be embroiled in a defamation lawsuit over its since-retracted article about a gang rape at a University of Virginia fraternity.
