As with all areas of publishing, the Internet has had a tremendous impact within the area of fanzines. What I want to do in this chapter is look at how the Internet has been utilised by fanzine writers, what changes it has been responsible for, and, ultimately, the extent to which it puts the traditional concept of fanzines at risk.

Fanzines as the Precursor to the Internet

To a certain degree, it can be said that fanzines created a structure not dissimilar to the Internet years before the 'electronic revolution'. The central idea of the Internet, that of a network of computers each containing separate quantities of information can be seen as having been active within fanzine culture. Just as any web page can feature any amount of links to other sites, it has been an intrinsic part of fanzines to provide information on other publications that the reader can then follow. Just as with websites, fanzines are each constructed separately, but can be regarded as a collective group through their connections to each other. It is for this reason that it can be said that "zine communities were in some respects mini-webs without an Internet; a preview of the Web's informal, do-it-yourself paradigm" (McHugh 1996).

Perhaps what further highlights this comparison between fanzines and the Internet is that both are concerned with the freedom of expression and a 'level playing field' for all. The difference here, however, is that whilst fanzines seek this but are limited by the problems of distribution and promotion, proponents of the Internet would argue that this new electronic media provides far more opportunities for those without power to express themselves.

One of the central features of the Internet is that it is only in a very limited way dominated by money. On the contrary, setting up a website and maintaining its content is reliant upon an individual's skills and the effort that they wish to spend on it. In addition to this, there are any number of information pages and software applications available for free on the Internet which make this easier. Ironically, is far harder to create a website that mirrors the "cut and paste" aesthetic of paper fanzines than it is to design something that looks a lot more 'official'.

The lack of straight forward organisation of Internet websites also acts in a way that blurs the line that previously divided the professional from the amateur. When a list of sites is created by a search engine such as HotBot, the pages are not categorised in a way that gives professional sites prominence; each one, regardless of who its creator is, is simply listed in order of how well it fits the criteria searched for. Following these links to the pages, it is often hard to see at first glance whether the site has been created by a 'professional' organisation or one enthusiastic individual.

As well as this, the Internet is also beneficial for fanzines in another way. As some have commented, with the same minimal distribution costs being "the same to reach an audience of one or 20 million, the Web's a natural medium for smaller niche-audience publishers" (McHugh 1996). Therefore, once a presence on the Internet is established, it can be slowly worked on further, reciprocating links with other sites, and building up an readership which could potentially be far higher than any paper fanzine producer would ever be able to photocopy enough copies for.

The ease with which a website can be set up by almost anyone and then put into the public domain has led to a huge number of sites being established that could very easily be described as a form of zine publication. It has been noted by some writers, for example, the way in which personal homepages can be seen as electronic equivalents of perzines (McHugh 1996). However, even though many people may view it as being a perversely exhibitionist activity for someone to publish a zine that talks entirely about themselves, there has been no shortage of personal web pages set up. Many of these are far more devoid of interesting content than the majority of perzines, some consisting only of mundane information such as a brief biography of the person with a picture of the person, and perhaps a listing of their record collection or favourite films. Still, whilst the publisher of a perzine gains some gratification from expressing themselves through a zine that they might make fifty copies of, the person setting up a personal web page is making this information about them potentially available to the entire world.

The Internet has then perhaps brought publishing within the grasp of virtually anyone to such an extent that people are now publishing, and creating their own forms of perzines, without even being fully aware of it. And because of the Internet hiding the potentially huge audience for any web page, content is not always such a consideration for this as it has been for the entirely conscious process of writing, putting together, copying and distributing paper zines previously.

Perhaps the greatest potential that the Internet presents is the opportunity to overcome traditional boundaries. As well as blurring the line between publications that are professionally funded and those that aren't, geographical boundaries are also largely ignored by the new media. The implications of this are great; it means that, whereas fanzines could previously only be known in the areas where they could physically distribute either copies or flyers, they can now be known about internationally. Perhaps the greatest possibility of this is that small-scale publishers can truly view themselves as members of a community that is not defined by location, but by interests, with community members anywhere in the world.

Views of the Internet

A number of different views concerning the Internet were expressed by the fanzine writers that I surveyed; there was also an almost equal divide between the fanzines that don't have web sites and those that do. I now wish to go through the different views of the Internet and the differing uses to which fanzine writers have put it.

The Internet as Paper Fanzine Promotion

One way in which fanzines have utilised the Internet is by setting up a web site that is then used for either promotion or the supplying of supplementary information. This can be considered the least 'intrusive' way in which the Internet is used by fanzine publishers; the web site is almost entirely ancillary to the paper version and in no way a replacement for it.

The site for Emancipation, for instance, was set up by the zine's publisher Ruth Stowell as something that could illustrate what the fanzine was about and what articles feature in the current and back issues. There is a small amount of text as a sample, but it is there purely as a demonstration to get people interested in contacting Ruth to obtain a copy of the paper zine. Similarly, the Maximum Rock and Roll web site just contains information on advertising rates and subscriptions.

What sites of this type seem to be suggesting is that fanzines cannot afford to be without at least a token presence on the Internet. As a growing source of information, and of course a distribution aid to a potential audience of millions, to not have even a simple web page giving details of what the fanzine is about and where copies can be obtained from is a bad idea. With the Internet still being something of an unknown property, it seems desirable to at least have a bare minimum of information available on it for perhaps anyone to find, if even by chance. There seems to be little to lose from just making this small effort.

This is reinforced by the majority of fanzine publishers who do not have any sort of web site attached to their fanzines stating that they either have plans to set a site up or would set one up if they had the skills to do so. Part of this may be that, with a growing amount of fanzines establishing sites, they have a sense of 'missing out' by not having one themselves, rather than because they have particular plans for what they want to put on the Internet. However, this also seems to be having the opposite on some fanzine writers at the same time. Part of fanzine culture is centred around "defending your ground", as can be seen by the at times confrontational stance to the mainstream music media. This can also be seen with the Internet; as there are more fanzines with this connection to the Internet, so the few that remain entirely paper-based feel more territorial in keeping to fanzines' traditional format without the aid of new media.

An Equal Relationship Between Fanzine and Web Site

Some fanzine publishers do however take the opportunities presented by the Internet somewhat further, creating a site that is more than a purely promotional device, having a much stronger function in respect to the paper fanzine. Whereas the promotional web pages discussed are just additions to the fanzine, here the Internet is utilised to provide facilities that fanzines, in their paper format, would be unable to offer.

What the fanzine writers who have this sort of relationship between the paper and Internet versions of their fanzine are suggesting is that there are both benefits and drawbacks for the Internet and paper fanzines alike. While they place a certain importance on the web site related to their paper fanzine, which may have existed for many years, it is not however intended as a replacement for the zine's traditional format, which is not something they wish to abandon in the face of new technology.

This point is illustrated by the following quote from Helen, the publisher of No38:

"The Internet's a good thing in many ways, but there just doesn't seem to be a soul at the centre of it. Having said that, e-zines are good and obviously, free, so I'd rather the two things complimented each other…" (Response to questionnaire)

Here it is implicit that the benefits that the Internet is able to offer do have a considerable drawback; the lack of a 'soul' - any sort of personality or direct communication with zine writers, which is of course a considerable part of what constitutes 'fanzine culture'. This point will be looked at in greater depth later in this chapter in regard to the possibility of paper fanzines ceasing to exist. Still, the other possibilities available through the Internet have been explored by a number of different fanzine writers.

As well as the lack of expense involved, the main advantage that the Internet has over printed publications is its immediacy. Once an article is written, it can be put onto the Internet, and therefore within reach of an audience, immediately. This is a clear contrast with the zine writer having to wait until he or she is ready to put out a new issue, then putting that article with the other ones to be included, then getting the whole zine copied and distributed. Although Mark Seager of But First The News doesn't have a web site related to his zine, he has had several articles published on other zines' sites. These are articles that either But First The News didn't have space for or which would have been out of date by the time of publication. The Internet therefore means that articles or news pieces, which would previously have been made redundant due to the amount of time that would pass before they actually got to their audience, can now have an outlet. There is however a downside to this as well; because, as Seager says, paper zines contain "a finite number of items in each issue" (response to But First The News questionnaire), a degree of 'quality control' is therefore necessary. The Internet providing a place where all articles that are not viewed as good enough to be put in the paper version can be placed instead will of course have a detrimental effect on quality. As with personal homepages, when anything can be published without any significant cost, the effect may well be that 'anything' indeed is - regardless of how good an article it is.

Another use to which fanzine publishers can put the Internet is illustrated by the comments of Paul Haworth of regarding his Homelovin' web site. As well as this functioning as "an advert for the tangible zine", it also features an "archive of material of past issues" (response to questionnaire). This means that previously written articles are kept alive by being on the Internet.

The Internet is also useful to fanzine publishers in another way that strengthens the idea of the fanzine community. In contrast to the perception of the Internet as being impersonal and distancing people involved in fanzines from each other, the way in which the Fracture web site is utilised seems to suggest that the Internet can allow better and more direct communication. As publisher Russell Remains comments, "the web site in a way can be the hub of Fracture … I guess the web site is like the day-to-day version of Fracture" (response to questionnaire).

He suggests particularly that the forums are a particularly successful feature of the site, allowing people to talk directly to each other. This is of special relevance when it is compared to Duncombe's observations of Maximum Rock and Roll's letters page functioning as a key the place for the definition of punk (1997: 160-165). However, whereas in Duncombe's study punks wrote in each month with replies to each other's arguments and new definitions in an attempt to decide exactly what was 'punk', the Fracture forum allows these people to talk directly to each other. It is however arguable as to whether the facilitation of this more direct form of communication will lead to any greater understanding amongst the punk community as a whole.

Jockrock has both a web site and paper version. The way in which the relationship between these two formats works is however quite different from with other fanzines. For Jockrock, the web site is the main part of the fanzine, with the paper version as the ancillary. As publisher Stuart McHugh states, "the website is FAR more active than the yearly zine. I do try and get 'exclusive' interviews into the zine however to add some value for people paying a quid or whatever" (response to questionnaire). The immediacy and ease of keeping information updated online is what makes the online version such an attractive proposition here. Interestingly as well, Stuart McHugh also comments that he personally doesn't like zines that "look too home made"; the implication here is that information and content is what he is primarily interested in, with the presentation style not being of such importance.

Entirely Web Based Zines

Of course, the logical progression of the Internet being embraced by fanzines is the development of web based zines that have no paper version at all. These 'e-zines' are growing in number as the possibilities presented by electronic media are explored in greater depth. One e-zine list, although no longer maintained, when it was last updated on the 8th of March 2000 had a total of 4,392 zines (E-Zine-List, http://www.meer.net/~johnl/e-zine-list/).

There is however a certain amount of confusion about what constitutes a zine when it is published not on paper but on the Internet. For example, Michael McHugh's From E-zines to Mega-zines article refers to "one of the most successful" e-zines as being Word (http://www.word.com). Word is however sponsored by Saab, IBM and Mastercard (McHugh 1996). If it were published on paper, it would have immense difficulty in claiming itself to be a zine with its prominent corporate advertising. However, as it is, Word can be considered a zine by some; it seems that with the transition to the Internet, there is also some space for the redefinition of what constitutes a fanzine.

Further complicating this issue, there are also many other sites that would be referred to as music e-zines, but which, rather than possibly being too commercial to qualify as such, might be seen as too personal. There are a huge number of sites around the Internet which are fan sites dedicated to one or more bands, suggesting the earlier discussion about the link between personal homepages and perzines.

However, whilst many music-orientated fan sites do not have much original content, instead often featuring band biographies, discographies, and pictures, there is an additional aspect with them to consider.

Copyright has been one of the biggest issues for the Internet. As the situation currently is, it is unclear how the law stands with images and sound being reproduced and available at many web sites. Fanzines have always acted in part as an oppositional force to the mainstream record industry and media. If they were however to take this further, having copyrighted music available for download, although they might eventually be stopped in the same way that Napster was, for a while at least they would be challenging corporate domination of the record industry. This can be seen as a particularly significant threat if the number of 'e-zine' sites is taken into consideration.

E-zines are, at the moment, operating in a fairly unclear environment. While there are new e-zines being established all the time, only time will tell the format that they will take, the restrictions upon them, and the direction they will follow.

Do Paper Fanzines Have a Future?

Given the uncertainty about the Internet, it is perhaps not surprising that there are numerous opinions about how important it is, or will be. There is scarcely a single area of life that has not been affected in some way by the rise of the Internet in the past decade. While some people have viewed the new media as heralding a new dawn, others have been little less than apocalyptic in their suggestions as to the Internet's ultimate effect. Fanzine publishing is no different from many other areas in that the Internet has brought with it new opportunities, issues and threats. Perhaps the greatest change that has been suggested is that the electronic media will replace the printed, meaning an end to the paper fanzine.

Some view this possible end to the paper fanzine as a threat. The idea here is that if fanzines lose their traditional format then they lose almost everything. Whilst 'e-zines' may continue on the Internet, they will be zines in name only. Others perceive the Internet as the greatest thing that could have happened for fanzine publishing, solving many of the problems traditionally faced by paper fanzines and opening up new opportunities in addition. I now wish to explore these views as they have been expressed by different fanzine writers and commentators.

John Marr, publisher of the influential 1980s zine Murder Can Be Fun, has commented that he thinks paper fanzines have gone past their prime. Although much of his Zines Are Dead article seems rooted in a nostalgia for when he was originally publishing his zine, he does state at the end of it that he thinks the "spirit of zines hasn't died. It's just migrated to the web". He then goes on to state "if I was starting out today, no way would I mess with hard copy - I'd go straight to the net. It's cheaper, easier, and faster" (Marr 1999). These benefits are echoed in the following quote:

"I think that if people continue to publish zines in five years time then it may be through some kind of indie ethic rather than because zines are actually 'better' - the benefits of being online are so great." (response to Jockrock questionnaire)

These perspectives suggest that paper fanzines are a dying breed. Whilst it may be that "there'll always be some kid in their bedroom making a new fanzine" (response to Angels Under Starlight questionnaire), it is suggested here that the 'kid in their bedroom making a new fanzine' will be an isolated individual. The Internet will grow in strength, attracting fanzine publishers until the point when, although the occasional paper fanzine may be created, it will have generate virtually no interest due to the competing mass of e-zines.

Of the fanzine publishers that I surveyed, views such as that of Jockrock's Stuart McHugh were in a definite minority. Although many were uncertain about whether paper fanzines would continue in any great scale, very few thought that if paper fanzines were to become obsolete then nothing would be lost. On the contrary, a number of fears were expressed that the transition from paper to Internet would leave something vital behind.

Partly, this fear is based on losing the tangibility of the zine. The book publishing industry holds out hope that people will not be overly attracted to literature available on the Internet at the expense of the printed word on the basis that the public prefers the physical characteristics of the book. How much more important could this be then for fanzines, where much of the publication's character is as much in the format as in the content?

This point is perhaps best illustrated by the following quote by Ruth Stowell of Emancipation:

"I know lots of people who have electronicised their zines - what was once a lovely cut and paste glitter-coated wad of paper, all personalised and twee, is now a hi-tech for-people-with-computer-access-only affair … there's nothing like holding the actual zine in your hands stroking it lovingly and admiring the hand drawn cartoons on the front cover" (response to Emancipation questionnaire)

Here the physical attributes of the zine are acknowledged as being of truly great importance; to lose them would be to lose something vital. At the heart of this argument is an opposition between the personal, represented by the traditional paper zine, and the impersonal e-zine, distanced from reader and creator by computers. It is thought here that an e-zine could never contain the same character that is inherent in a traditional zine, put together, copied and distributed by hand. Furthermore, because publicity could well centre around sending emails and setting up reciprocal links with other sites, there could well be an end to direct communication with the audience, as there is with fanzine writers handing out flyers at gigs. This could be seen as a further weakening of the community basis that fanzines have treasured for many years.

On the level of the physicality of paper fanzines, the same arguments for paper issues are made as are for books; that a paper publication can be carried about and read wherever an individual wants. Not wanting paper fanzines to disappear, Sid Stovold of Pop Art comments, "you can't take your computer to bed to read, can't you?" (response to questionnaire). The fanzine in its paper format is then valued because of its accessibility; once obtained, it can be read anywhere, unlike an e-zine, which has to be read off a computer monitor or printed out. Allied to this idea of paper fanzines as a physical commodity that can be carried about by someone, they are also possessions that can be collected and prized for their interesting aspects. Asty Morrison in this way refers to "the excitement of a new fanzine through the letter box" (response to Heavenly/H questionnaire).

One of the most powerful arguments for fanzines not to go entirely online is that doing so would alienate that part of their readership without computer access. Although the percentage of people connected to the Internet is continually growing, there is also a tendency to forget that a large number of people, many of whom are outside the traditionally white middle class group of fanzine writers, have no opportunity to look at the Internet. Asking Michael Thorn of Maximum Rock and Roll whether he though that paper fanzines would continue to exist, his response was "not everyone has access to computers in this world, so what would the point be?" (response to questionnaire). This is a powerful argument, which has to a large extent been overlooked in the assumption that everyone has Internet access. On the contrary, many of Maximum Rock and Roll's readership doesn't. As the leading punk zine, it has a self-appointed responsibility to be accessible to the widest audience as is possible. This audience can also be far removed from the middle class bias that traditionally makes up fanzine culture, spanning every geographical area and including otherwise entirely alienated individuals such as people in prison. The punks that started music zine publishing, as discussed in the history section of this dissertation, were working class and looking for a means of expression. There would be a certain irony if the zines that have developed as a direct result of their example were now to rush onto the Internet and out of the reach of similar people seeking the same means of expression now, but unable to pay for Internet access.

The area of fanzine publishing as a whole is unsure what the future might be. Or, to put it another way, few think that the Internet won't grow in importance and dominate how people think about the publishing of fanzines. What they're unsure about however is whether this will be a good thing or not, and how fanzines will change form during their online transition.

Despite all the worries about the lack of communication and the impersonal nature of the Internet which will put an end to personalised, individual publications, there are many voices to the contrary. Perhaps the most positive perception of the current situation comes from Chip Rowe, publisher of Chip's Closet Cleaner and editor of The Book of Zines. He has been involved with fanzines for many years and now runs a site of fanzine resources. He suggests that "the medium isn't as important as the motivation. That's what makes it a zine, not whether it's on paper or online" (response to questionnaire). The enthusiasm of the zine publisher will therefore, according to this view, create something interesting, regardless of the format it takes. Whether paper or e-zine, the fanzine ideal will continue in new hands and perhaps in a new media, but still bearing the characteristics that have made it such an intriguing area within modern publishing.