Rolling Stone now monthly, now $9.99 an issue

Rolling Stone is decreasing publication of its physical magazine from twice a month to just a once a month, and issues will raise in price from $5.99 to $9.99, the Wall Street Journal reports. This follows Penske Media buying a majority stake in the magazine’s parent company Wenner Media six months ago. While circulation is shrinking, the size of the magazine is getting bigger, with a larger format and heavier paper stock to highlight photos and “recast” the magazine as more of a premium publication.

The cover of the first issue with the new format features a visibly pregnant Cardi B and her husband Offset of Migos. Inside the issue is Rolling Stone‘s “The Trouble with Johnny Depp” feature (“Multimillion-dollar lawsuits, a haze of booze and hash, a marriage gone very wrong and a lifestyle he can’t afford – inside the trials of Johnny Depp,” the excerpt reads). You can also read the Depp article online here and get an inside look at Cardi B and Offset’s cover shoot here.

Gus Wenner, president and chief operating officer of Wenner Media and 27-year-old son of Rolling Stone co-founder Jann Wenner, said, via Wall Street Journal: “Our strategy is to go much deeper in our core areas: music, politics and entertainment. For us to succeed, we need an authentic audience, readers who are buying our magazine. We want to set ourselves up for long-term success. You can’t do that if you are creating a fake audience for your magazine and are buying tons of traffic online.”

Rolling Stone is also reportedly planning more events, as Penske Media has also pushed Variety, Women’s Wear Daily and Footwear News to do. “We’re planning to do something big around the Grammy Awards, which is a natural fit for us,” said Gus Wenner. “And we’ll do a business-of-music driven conference. The Holy Grail is connecting the dots between digital, print, social and events.”