Rolling Stone Australia
Encyclopedia
Rolling Stone Australia is an Australian-based magazine
devoted to music
, politics
, and popular culture
that is published monthly, it is the Australian edition of the United States' Rolling Stone
. Rolling Stone was initially released in Melbourne
in May 1970 as a supplement in Revolution, an offshoot from Australian pop
newspaper, Go-Set
by Phillip Frazer
. It was launched as a fully fledged magazine in 1972 by Frazer, five years after it had started in the United States, and is the longest surviving international edition of Rolling Stone.
in Melbourne
as an offshoot from the now defunct, teen-based pop
newspaper Go-Set
for Go-Set Publications. Go-Set introduced an adult, counter-culture supplement called Core on 13 December 1969 which was edited by Ed Nimmervoll
. Nimmervoll had worked on Go-Set since 1966. The US Rolling Stone magazine was the role model for Core and Frazer decided a stand-alone publication was required. On 1 May 1970, Go-Set Publications produced Revolution, Frazer had negotiated with Rolling Stone owner and publisher, Jann Wenner
, for a supplement to be included from the fourth issue. It targeted an older, counter-culture audience than Go-Set, Revolution became High Times in August 1971. High Times last issue was in January 1972, each magazine continued with the supplements and were published by Frazer for Go-Set Publications. Frazer left Go-Set in February and seven months later founded The Digger independently, Rolling Stone was launched as a fully fledged magazine in late 1972 by Frazer, five years after the flagship started in the United States. Rolling Stone Australia was published monthly, it is devoted to music
, politics
, and popular culture
; with local articles and international articles from the parent magazine. Frazer continued with The Digger, until December 1975, when he left Australia for the United States.
In 1974, two years after being founded, the licence was taken up by a group of journalists led by former Financial Review
writer Paul Gardiner, with Jane Mathieson and Paul Comrie-Thompson. The first Australian act on the cover was Skyhooks in 1976, who reportedly hated the photo, but it did mark a broadening recognition of local acts in the magazine. Together Gardiner, Mathieson and Comrie-Thompson built Rolling Stone Australia up as a major player in terms of circulation, shifting about 35,000 copies each week. Gardiner and his wife Mathieson were in control until 1987, when they too pulled out amid mounting debts and American indifference.
After remaining dormant for six months, Phillip Keir acquired the rights to publish it in 1987 in partnership with his wife Lisa-Belle Furhagen and his friend Toby Creswell
. The three university friends having virtually no publishing experience decided to pool their money and buy the licence from the Americans. Creswell and Keir were old friends dating back to their school days at Sydney Grammar School
, whilst Keir and Furhagen were married. In 1992 when the friendship fell out and the marriage broke up, Keir retained the magazine, which became the flagship title of Next Media Pty Ltd. The following year Creswell and Furhagen started, the publishing company Terraplane Press/Terraplanet and launched Juice in direct competition to Rolling Stone.
Australian Rolling Stone celebrated its 25th year with a special collector's edition in May 1998, and at that time the publishers claimed the current circulation was around 40,000. In 2008 Next Media Pty Ltd were purchased by Worseley Media, in a deal that saw ACP Magazines acquire Rolling Stone magazine, in exchange for ACP titles Tracks and Waves. A few months later, ACP relaunched Rolling Stone, with a new look and size.
In 2008 the magazine averaged sales of 27,051 copies a month, down from 29,372 the year before and about 40,000 at the time of its 30th anniversary issue six years previous. Its average readership in March 2008 was 301,000, compared with 296,000 a year earlier; the readership had peaked in December 1994 at 392,000.
The Australian version is the longest surviving international edition of Rolling Stone magazine.
Magazine
Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
devoted to music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
, politics
Politics
Politics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the...
, and popular culture
Popular culture
Popular culture is the totality of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, memes, images and other phenomena that are deemed preferred per an informal consensus within the mainstream of a given culture, especially Western culture of the early to mid 20th century and the emerging global mainstream of the...
that is published monthly, it is the Australian edition of the United States' Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
. Rolling Stone was initially released in Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
in May 1970 as a supplement in Revolution, an offshoot from Australian pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
newspaper, Go-Set
Go-Set
Go-Set was the first Australian pop music newspaper, published weekly from 2 February 1966 to 24 August 1974, and was founded in Melbourne by Phillip Frazer, Peter Raphael and Tony Schauble...
by Phillip Frazer
Phillip Frazer
Phillip Frazer, is a writer, editor and publisher. He was a founder of the teen pop newspaper, Go-Set in 1966 which was published weekly until 1974, introducing Australia's first national pop record charts and featuring many notable contributors...
. It was launched as a fully fledged magazine in 1972 by Frazer, five years after it had started in the United States, and is the longest surviving international edition of Rolling Stone.
History
The Australian version of Rolling Stone was initially released as a supplement in Revolution in May 1970, an adult-based magazine, edited and published by Phillip FrazerPhillip Frazer
Phillip Frazer, is a writer, editor and publisher. He was a founder of the teen pop newspaper, Go-Set in 1966 which was published weekly until 1974, introducing Australia's first national pop record charts and featuring many notable contributors...
in Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
as an offshoot from the now defunct, teen-based pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
newspaper Go-Set
Go-Set
Go-Set was the first Australian pop music newspaper, published weekly from 2 February 1966 to 24 August 1974, and was founded in Melbourne by Phillip Frazer, Peter Raphael and Tony Schauble...
for Go-Set Publications. Go-Set introduced an adult, counter-culture supplement called Core on 13 December 1969 which was edited by Ed Nimmervoll
Ed Nimmervoll
Edward Francis "Ed" Nimmervoll is an Australian rock music journalist, author and historian. He worked on rock magazines Go-Set and Juke both as a journalist and as an editor...
. Nimmervoll had worked on Go-Set since 1966. The US Rolling Stone magazine was the role model for Core and Frazer decided a stand-alone publication was required. On 1 May 1970, Go-Set Publications produced Revolution, Frazer had negotiated with Rolling Stone owner and publisher, Jann Wenner
Jann Wenner
Jann Simon Wenner is the co-founder and publisher of the music and politics biweekly Rolling Stone, as well as the owner of Men's Journal and Us Weekly magazines.-Childhood:...
, for a supplement to be included from the fourth issue. It targeted an older, counter-culture audience than Go-Set, Revolution became High Times in August 1971. High Times last issue was in January 1972, each magazine continued with the supplements and were published by Frazer for Go-Set Publications. Frazer left Go-Set in February and seven months later founded The Digger independently, Rolling Stone was launched as a fully fledged magazine in late 1972 by Frazer, five years after the flagship started in the United States. Rolling Stone Australia was published monthly, it is devoted to music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
, politics
Politics
Politics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the...
, and popular culture
Popular culture
Popular culture is the totality of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, memes, images and other phenomena that are deemed preferred per an informal consensus within the mainstream of a given culture, especially Western culture of the early to mid 20th century and the emerging global mainstream of the...
; with local articles and international articles from the parent magazine. Frazer continued with The Digger, until December 1975, when he left Australia for the United States.
In 1974, two years after being founded, the licence was taken up by a group of journalists led by former Financial Review
The Australian Financial Review
The Australian Financial Review is a leading business and finance newspaper in Australia.Fairfax Media publishes it in a compact format six days a week, Monday to Saturday....
writer Paul Gardiner, with Jane Mathieson and Paul Comrie-Thompson. The first Australian act on the cover was Skyhooks in 1976, who reportedly hated the photo, but it did mark a broadening recognition of local acts in the magazine. Together Gardiner, Mathieson and Comrie-Thompson built Rolling Stone Australia up as a major player in terms of circulation, shifting about 35,000 copies each week. Gardiner and his wife Mathieson were in control until 1987, when they too pulled out amid mounting debts and American indifference.
After remaining dormant for six months, Phillip Keir acquired the rights to publish it in 1987 in partnership with his wife Lisa-Belle Furhagen and his friend Toby Creswell
Toby Creswell
Toby Creswell is an Australian music journalist and pop-culture writer. He was editor of Rolling Stone and a founding editor of Juice. In 1986 he co-wrote, with Martin Fabinyi, his first book Too Much Ain't Enough a biography of pub rocker and former Cold Chisel vocalist Jimmy Barnes...
. The three university friends having virtually no publishing experience decided to pool their money and buy the licence from the Americans. Creswell and Keir were old friends dating back to their school days at Sydney Grammar School
Sydney Grammar School
Sydney Grammar School is an independent, non-denominational, selective, day school for boys, located in Darlinghurst, Edgecliff and St Ives, all suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia....
, whilst Keir and Furhagen were married. In 1992 when the friendship fell out and the marriage broke up, Keir retained the magazine, which became the flagship title of Next Media Pty Ltd. The following year Creswell and Furhagen started, the publishing company Terraplane Press/Terraplanet and launched Juice in direct competition to Rolling Stone.
Australian Rolling Stone celebrated its 25th year with a special collector's edition in May 1998, and at that time the publishers claimed the current circulation was around 40,000. In 2008 Next Media Pty Ltd were purchased by Worseley Media, in a deal that saw ACP Magazines acquire Rolling Stone magazine, in exchange for ACP titles Tracks and Waves. A few months later, ACP relaunched Rolling Stone, with a new look and size.
In 2008 the magazine averaged sales of 27,051 copies a month, down from 29,372 the year before and about 40,000 at the time of its 30th anniversary issue six years previous. Its average readership in March 2008 was 301,000, compared with 296,000 a year earlier; the readership had peaked in December 1994 at 392,000.
The Australian version is the longest surviving international edition of Rolling Stone magazine.