Let's imagine that you already have a band and you have recorded an album
or demo - it doesn't matter. What are you going to do with this record further?
I know it is difficult to believe in it but there are a lot of the quite good
people engaged in distribution of the information on groups and records! Not
for money - absolutely free!!! I speak about magazines.
You send them your release - they write a review on it (the review may be
also devastating!) and print in their magazine which circulation is some-thousand.
The two thousand Finnish punks read this review and all of them try to visit
your web site (which you have providently created beforehand, not having forgotten
the English-speaking version!), then they offer you concert tours, splits,
questions for the interview and other pleasant attributes of punk - popularity.
Probably, someone will order your album!!!
Certainly, in any country it is better to write on their native language but
it is possible to write on universal English. Nobody forces you to translate
texts of songs, but the more songs a reviewer will understand - the more chances
that he'll correctly understand and estimate your ideas.
The best way is to send your stuff by air mail and if the finance allow the
certified mail - it will arrive 100 %!!! Chances of delivery of the usual
letter are so small, that they can be considered as an error...
The given list of editions is not final and needs more edition and additions.
Toinen Vaihtoehto - Finland, the Finnish language, circulation - 1400 copies; the address: TV, PL1, 65200 VAASA, Finland; jantsa@yahoo.com; www.punkinfinland.net/tv. Basically, write about the punk and HC.
Wiatry - Poland, the Polish language, circulation - 4000 copies; the address: Sebastian Dzikowski, Zlota 19/8, 64-920 Pila, Poland; wiatry@poczta.onet.pl; www.independent.pl/wiatry.htm. A free magazine completely consist of reviews on music, press, comics and books. They review all: from Edward Artem'ev up to Fugazi!
Profane Existence - USA, the English language, circulation - not less than 5000 copies; the address - PO Box 8722, Minneapolis MN 55408, USA; blackened@visi.com; www.profaneexistence.com. The very authoritive anarcho-punk-zine. It is distributed for free. Review HC, punk and everything anyhow involved in politics.
Blackpool Rox II - the Great Britain, the English language, circulation-???; the address - PO Box 1025, Blackpool, FY3 0FA, UK; www.jsntgm.com. A free local zine: in it you can find affairs of their local stage, reviews on punk/HC and some politics.
MaximumRocknRoll - USA, the English language; the address - PO Box 460760, San Francisco, CA 94146-0760, USA; maximumrnr@mindspring.com. One of the most influential punk-editions of the world! Punk, HC, garage, ska, surf and etc.
GIAG - Latvia, the English language; circulation - 3000 copies; the address - PO Box 15, Riga LV-1011, Latvia; http://www.giag.lv, giag@mail.ru. Electro-industrial-experimental free magazine: reviews, interviews.
The Upsetter - France, the French language; the address: 31 rue Arvede Baine, 17000 La Rochelle, France; http://rockstar2.free.fr/bart. The magazine and a small label (Upsetter All Star). Their preferences are punk'n'roll and modern garage punk. Except for the unit of reviews on "serious" releases, there is a separate part with reviews on demo-records.
Longshot - from the Great Britain, English language, circulation - 400 copies; 109A Desborough Ave, High Wycombe, Bucks, HP11 2SG, UK; passoutpro@hotmail.com. A free fan-zine about their local punk-ska-hardcore-scene. They are quiet ideologically grounded. In this number Except numerous interviews there are many musical reviews (including demos) and also reviews on different magazines and DVDs. Except for this zine release it's authors are engaged in the organization of the concerts (One Man Army or Lawrence Arms for example...).
Certainly, it is necessary not to ignore Russian editions.
Avtonom - circulation is unreal (probably, they constantly print the rest of old numbers); the address - 350001 Krasnodar, p.o. 3472, Russia, http://ad-direct.newmail.ru; fak-kr@mail.ru. Except for the articles about anarchism, feminism, movies and literature in the magazine there is a small section of musical reviews. The preference is given to the ideological part of the relelease...