Rolling Stone & BandLab Ink Deal

Founded in 1967, Rolling Stone began as a counter-culture news alternative for baby boomers, packing music news with essays on current events as well as whatever caught the attention of editor Wenner and his staff of writers.

And what writers they were.  Rolling Stone not only served as an early home for gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson, but the mag debuted his “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” article that eventually expanded into book form.

Writers that found a home at Rolling Stone included P.J. O’Rourke, Cameron Crowe and Joe Eszterhas.  The magazine was also one of the first major publications to explore the death of nuclear worker Karen Silkwood, whose story was made into a 1983 movie starring Meryl Streep.  When kidnapped heiress-turned-bank robber Patty Hearst was apprehended in 1975, Rolling Stone scooped the mainstream press with an in-depth report detailing her activities following her abduction by a radical fringe group.

But not all exclusives were good news for Rolling Stone.  The magazine is still trying to dig itself out of the controversy sparked by an article about a purported rape at a University of Virginia fraternity.  Describing the story as “substantially false,” Bloomberg News notes that the article has spawned several lawsuits.

BandLab was founded by Kuok Meng Ru, who is the son of Singapore-based tycoon Kuok Khoon Hong.  According to Bloomberg, BandLab will not have any control over Rolling Stone’s editorial content, nor will the company own a part of Wenner Media.

“”What has happened the last 49 years has already shown that Rolling Stone is more than a brand to people,” Kuok told Bloomberg News.  “It is now our shared responsibility to take it into the future.”