The music may have stopped for Rolling Stone Australia.
Paper Riot, the company which publishes Rolling Stone Magazine (Australia), entered administration on Wednesday. The development casts doubts over the future of the iconic title which is understood to have ceased trading.
Rolling Stone Australia launched in 1971 and is the longest-running franchise of the US original. The masthead was 'rescued' by editor-turned-owner Matthew Coyte from Bauer Media in 2013 following that company's acquisition of it in 2008.
Stephen Green, director of SGC Media – publicist to the late Gurrumul as well as music conference BIGSOUND – said, "This one has really got to me. Not just because it's another music magazine gone, but that it's one that would have been gone a couple of years sooner if not for someone with passion willing to put cash on the line to keep it afloat when it was cut loose from Bauer.
"Rolling Stone ... helped my business, it helped every record company. It still had the ability to break bands (or at the very least help break them) and made a real difference. A premiere or a feature or even a freaking mention in Rolling Stone meant something.
"I paid to subscribe but that obviously makes me feel inadequate [compared to] what it meant to me professionally and also personally as I grabbed the mag out of the letterbox each month and escaped for an hour while I read quality music journalism. Mathew Coyte and Rod Yates will be kings among men in my books whatever they decide to smash out of the park next."
There has been no public comment from Paper Riot or Matthew Coyte. The company's social media was actively promoting articles as recently as yesterday morning.
