Rolling Stone

My publication of choice is easy - Rolling Stone.
What other magazine focuses on the in's and out's of the music industry, highlighting mainstream and indie alike, while also offering coverage on television, movies, politics and current events?
Unlike newspapers though, which strive to be unbiased, Rolling Stone is rather liberal - and it shows in their choice of articles. Obama has been featured on the front cover upwards of 5 times in the last couple of years.
Just this last month there was an extensive article tearing apart the Tea Party.

The target audience for Rolling Stone is tricky, since you have long time subscribers and new fans both expecting different things. In recent years, RS has become increasing political. Likewise, the rise of the television super powers has put an increased demand on reality shows, like American Idol.

If you write too much about music, then they have eliminated 50% of their audience. However, if music isn't the central point, they've lost the long time subscribers.

Additionally, the type of music covered gets hazy. Music magazines like Alternative Press have a niche - they write about less mainstream/punk rock/emo music. There is only a couple pages in the whole issue dedicated to movies and tv.

Here are five articles I would pick to appeal to my audience, assuming I'm in charge of RS.

(1) The Case for Obama, by Tim Dickinson (Rollingstone)
I really enjoyed this article in the last issue. It's very well written and insightful, and shows the power RS has in the magazine community - the interview was conducted in the Oval Office. Yes, it is a music magazine, but I think this story is important in hearing from Obama's mouth what he sees to be the issues.

(2) Good Charlotte album review (Spin) 

I greatly enjoy Spin's album reviews. Most magazines publish these really stretched out, super long reviews. Spin's are always short, punchy and straight to the point.


(3) 40 Watt Venue profile (Red & Black)

This article by Adam Carlson is amazing - it truly paints a portrait of the importance of the 40 watt to the music scene, as well as showing how long its been here and the culture behind it all. I would love to see a series of venue profiles in RS.

(4) Music Notes (Red & Black) -
I really like what this has brought to the R&B the last two weeks. Athens is a culture of music, and Music Notes by Chris Miller highlights every show coming up, and feature small profiles on lesser known bands. I think RS would benefit from running in their issues what bands are going on tour and when.

(5) Portugal. The Man profile 
My favorite part of music magazines are their band/artist profiles. I don't just want to know who is playing Saturday - I want to know the little things about them. I felt this article shined a light into how Portugal.The Man escalated from just a bnuch of kids in a music starved rural Alaskan town.