Punk Planet (1994-2007)

After thirteen years of publishing, Punk Planet is officially closing its doors. The editors sent out this letter to subscribers:

We've come to the impossible decision to stop printing, having
sounded all the alarms and reenvisioned all the systems we can.
Benefit shows are no longer enough to make up for bad distribution
deals, disappearing advertisers, and a decreasing audience of
subscribers.

As to the latter two points, we could blame the Internet. It makes
editorial content-and bands-easy to find, for free. (We're sure our
fellow indie labels, those still standing, can attest to the
difficulties created in the last few years). We can blame educational
and media systems that value magazines focused on consumerism over
engaged dissent. And we can blame the popular but mistaken belief
that punk died several years ago.

You can click Read More for the rest of the announcement.

As much as it breaks our hearts to write these words, the final issue
of Punk Planet is in the post, possibly heading toward you right now.
Over the last 80 issues and 13 years, we've covered every aspect of
the financially independent, emotionally autonomous, free culture we
refer to as "the underground." In that time we've sounded many alarms
from our editorial offices: about threats of co-optation, big-media
emulation, and unseen corporate sponsorship. We've also done
everything in our power to create a support network for independent
media, experiment with revenue streams, and correct the distribution
issues that have increasingly plagued independent magazines. But now
we've come to the impossible decision to stop printing, having
sounded all the alarms and reenvisioned all the systems we can.
Benefit shows are no longer enough to make up for bad distribution
deals, disappearing advertisers, and a decreasing audience of
subscribers.

As to the latter two points, we could blame the Internet. It makes
editorial content-and bands-easy to find, for free. (We're sure our
fellow indie labels, those still standing, can attest to the
difficulties created in the last few years). We can blame educational
and media systems that value magazines focused on consumerism over
engaged dissent. And we can blame the popular but mistaken belief
that punk died several years ago.

But it is also true that great things end, and the best things end
far too quickly.

As to bad distribution deals, we must acknowledge that the financial
hit we took in October of 2005, when our newsstand distributor
announced that it was in dire straits, was worse than we originally
thought. As the dust began to clear from their January bankruptcy
announcement, we began to realize that the magazine was left in
significantly worse shape, distribution-wise, than they let on.

Add to that the stagnation that the independent record world is
suffering under and the effect that has had on our ad sales, not to
mention the loss of independent bookstores with a vested interest in
selling our publication, and it all adds up to a desperate situation.
This has been made far worse by the exhaustion felt from a year and a
half of fighting our own distributor. It was a situation that didn't
have an exit strategy other then, well, exiting.

The books line will continue to publish, and the website will
continue to be a social networking site for independently minded
folk; Dan will be staying with both, but Anne will be moving on, only
blogging occasionally at punkplanet.com while she pursues other
interests. All further inquiries about the magazine should be
addressed to theend@punkplanet.com.

Thank you for your direct support of Punk Planet--your subscriptions
have helped to keep us going for 13 years. Most of you still have
issues remaining in your subscription. We're lining up some amazing
independent magazines to take over your subscriptions and will be in
touch about those shortly. Those of you that would prefer to receive
back issues instead, let us know which numbers and we will happily
get them out to you. If neither of those options work for you, please
get in touch.

There probably isn't much else to say that we haven't already said in
PP80-in articles about new activist projects, SXSW, the demise of
the IPA, and transgender media, and in interviews with the G7
Welcoming Committee, Andre Schiffrin, and The Steinways. Read it,
enjoy it, and find in it enough inspiration to last until we come
back in some other form, at some other time, renewed and ready to
make another outstanding mark on the world.