Punk Planet and other independent magazines in danger
Seems to be a rough time for US print mags these days. Another favourite magazine of mine, Punk Planet, is in trouble, because their distributor is experiencing financial difficulties (read more about it here).
I really hope that Daniel Sinker, the man behind Punk Planet, is able to continue his amazing work, because his magazine has always been a huge inspiration for me.
When I decided to start fiction.friction (the 2nd rec predecessor) about 7 years ago, I didn’t have any idea on how to run a record label (I’m still figuring out) and - living in the countryside in the middle of Germany - I didn’t knew anybody who I could have asked about it.
But there was this US fanzine I’ve regularily ordered from a music mailorder, that did not only feature interviews with bands, but also with people “behind the scenes”, like label owners, independent book publishers, fanzine editors etc. I devoured these interviews and I couldn’t wait to get my hands on the next issue. At that time I actually got most information and (even more important) inspiration on how to run a label from these insightful interviews. Who knows what I would be doing now, if Punk Planet hasn’t existed.
So do yourself and Punk Planet (and me) a favour and order something from their website, e.g. this book, which I can highly recommend.