Rolling Stone archives to be made available for free through Google Newsstand

Google and Rolling Stone have signed an agreement that will give users of Google Newsstand limited access to Rolling Stone archives for free.

Rolling Stone, which was first published in 1967, announced the news today and said select articles from each issue will be available on Friday.  Speaking to Fast Company, Rolling Stone founder and editor-in-chief Jann Wenner said the idea of making historic articles of the magazine available online had been brewing for a while. The final push was the positive reaction to Rolling Stone’s decision to promote archived Robin Williams cover stories online following the actor’s death last year.

Google Newsstand is available on both Android and iOS but those without a smartphone or tablet will also be able to access these archived articles through the Rolling Stone website.

Rolling Stone Magazine is already on Google Newsstand.  Users can purchase individual issues or a subscription, but there’s no free option. As part of the deal, Fast Company reports that the search giant paid for “seven figures” worth of advertising with the magazine.

[source]Fast Company, Google Play[/source]