Starting Friday, January 30, selective stories from Rolling Stone magazine’s near 50-year archive will be available on Google Play Newsstand free of charge. Announced Wednesday, the deal will see Rolling Stone showcase three to four big stories form each archive, dating back to the first issue published in 1967, on Google Inc.’s news reader app for both Android and iOS.

In an interview, Gus Wenner, son of Rolling Stone founder Jann Wenner, and the head of digital for Wenner Media, explained what prompted him to seek a digital platform for archival content:

“I see it every day in our analytics: Archival content performs very well. It comes down to how you promote and when. We’ll be smart about how we promote it, and we’ll tie it to news events. It’s not hard to find these moments.”

Wenner said that he hopes to expand content published on Google Play Newsstand with multimedia content like video and sound over the course of the next year.

Google bought advertising in Rolling Stone magazine worth seven figures as part of the deal. “Our goal is to help publishers succeed in a changing world,” Brian Irving, global head of marketing for Google Play said. “We’re constantly looking for ways to partner with people who are content creators and help bring something to life.”

For Google the Rolling Stone partnership is an opportunity to show off the possibilities offered by Google Play Newsstand. Irving, citing features like customizable themes and keyword searches, maintains that Google’s news reader app is a superior offering to Apple Inc.’s Newsstand for content discovery.

Rolling Stone is arguably one of the most iconic magazines ever to be published, and over the years it has featured stories from acclaimed writers such as Hunter S. Thompson, Cameron Crowe and Matt Taibbi. Not just limited to entertainment news, the publication has also served up in-depth financial and political coverage, all of which will now be accessible for free on Google Play Newsstand.

photo credit: Thomas Hawk via photopin cc