The founder of Rolling Stone plans to sell a controlling stake in the legendary magazine that changed music journalism forever. Jann Wenner said he hoped to find a buyer "who understands the magazine's mission."
Jann Wenner, who started the magazine in 1967 as a hippie student in Berkeley, California, and now runs it with his son Gus, told the New York Times that the future looked tough for a family-run publisher.
"There's a level of ambition that we can't achieve alone," Gus Wenner told the newspaper. "So we're being proactive and want to get ahead of the curve."
US music industry report: streaming services the big winners
Data analysis company BuzzAngle has issued a new report on music consumption in the US. The 2016 survey confirms a firm shift toward streaming, while physical song and album sales keep declining. The major findings:
Image: Imago/Westend61
Streaming the big money spinner
BuzzAngle reports a continued explosion of audio streaming in the US for 2016. The percentage of subscription streams rose from 62 to 75 percent of the total year on year.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Unique songs
Over 28 million unique songs were streamed in the US in 2016 - 7.7 million songs were purchased, and 1.4 million unique albums were bought over the same period.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/D. Bockwoldt
Drake topping the list
Rapper Drake is artist of the year with over 6.1 million in total album consumption units. "One Dance" is the song of the year with 5.6 million units bought in the US in 2016.
Image: Getty Images/ iHeartMedia/C. Pollk
Pop beats hip hop
Pop music was the top genre in total music consumption last year. It managed to edge out hip-hop & rap. The top-growing genre, however, was dance ( up 35 percent over 2015).
Image: picture-alliance/Geisler-Fotopress/J. Alexander
The rise of vinyl
BuzzAngle said vinyl album sales in the US were up a staggering 25.9 percent year on year. By contrast, CD album sales dropped by 14 percent last year.
Image: DW
Fresh trend, fresh money
The decline in physical album sales is more than compensated by the shift to subscription-based streaming, resulting in higher average revenue per user and more profitability for the US music industry.
Image: AFP/Getty Images
6 images1 | 6
Kuok or Pecker?
Rolling Stone last year sold a 49-percent stake to a Singaporean music and technology startup, BandLab Technologies headed by Kuok Meng Ru.
It was not immediately known if Kuok would want to take a controlling stake in the magazine.
The Wenner family earlier this year already sold its two other titles, celebrity magazine US Weekly and lifestyle monthly Men's Journal, to American Media.
If American Media were interested in Rolling Stone, it would mark a sharp change in owners' ideologies, analysts warned. The tabloid empire is led by Trump ally David Pecker.
Jann Wenner said he hoped to keep an editorial role at Rolling Stone, but said the decision would be up to the magazine's new owner.
