Shawn Mendes To Kick Off Year-Long Partnership Between YouTube Music, Rolling Stone

Both Rolling Stone and YouTube Music are sporting new looks, and that makes them ideal bedfellows. Therefore, they’re teaming up for a year-long partnership, which will begin with a performance from singer-songwriter Shawn Mendes on July 26.

The partnership between the two brands “will include exclusive integrated and immersive digital content, and various experiential consumer and artist experiences,” according to an article published by Rolling Stone. Mendes, who first rose to prominence on Vine before emerging as a force on the pop charts, will kick off that alliance by playing a show in Brooklyn and sitting down for a conversation with Rolling Stone writer Brittany Spanos.

Rolling Stone is looking to put itself in front of consumers in order to show a redesign it’s calling “the new Rolling Stone.” The new version of YouTube Music, meanwhile, rolled out back in June as YouTube’s latest attempt to engage with the millions of viewers who consume music videos on its platform.

YouTube will likely use many different means to show off the newest version of its music service. YouTube global head of music Lyor Cohen noted last month that the advertising blitz related to YouTube Music will be the “largest marketing plan in YouTube’s history.” One goal of those promotional efforts is to “frustrate and seduce” potential customers until they agree to pay $9.99 per month for YouTube Music’s premium service.

If promotion is what YouTube Music wants, it couldn’t have chosen a better standard-bearer than Mendes. The singer-songwriter has close to 15 million subscribers on his official YouTube channel.