The evolution of punk zines in the digital age

Relevance of the study. In an era of high availability of the Internet, a decrease in the number of print publications and the monopolization of commercial media, the independent publication of zines, is felt as archaism and a return to the old times of samizdat. Despite this, representatives of the punks subculture still resort to this printed form of the presentation of their ideas and creativity, in connection with which it is relevant to consider the evolution of this phenomenon. Purpose. Trace the evolution of zines in the punk subculture under the influence of digital technology. Tasks. Refer to the terms “samizdat” and “zine”, indicate the features of their meanings; to trace the peculiarity of zine culture in the punk subculture in historical retrospective, to identify changes in zines in graphic design, produce, and distribution through questionnaires of subjects of punk subculture. Methods. Comparative and structural-functional analysis, a descriptive method - with special methods of bibliology: analytical-thematic, visual-descriptive and a method of content analysis, also questionnaires with an open question form. Research result. 1. Zines are still remains a source of information about the punk music scene, play a central role in spreading and strengthening the ideology of punk, and opposes the representation of punk in the media and mass culture. 2. Modern punks don't reject affordable digital technology. Some completely switch to the digital format of the production and distribution of zines, passing the right to print the zine to the reader by himself. Some, on the contrary, create their zines manually, following the DIY tradition of “cut and paste“, which reflects a certain fatigue from the mass virtualization of the modern world.3. The authors also betake to the possibilities of the Internet at the distribution stage, which allows expanding the readership and varying the meaningful content of future zines. Thus, digital reality allows the reader to move quickly from an author-viewer relationship to an author-author relationship by simplifying the communication process. 4. For some authors, zine is a way of spreading their ideas, also a way of creative expression. Moreover, the material form appears here as a symbol of the “tangibility“ of one's own work and creation. 5. Zine-culture is moving away from visuals (which reflects general cultural trends), and the quality of both the content itself and the external performance is growing, since many creators, if not professionals in this field, tend to learn the basics in the production process. As a result of this, the previously counter-cultural concept of rejection and intentional neglect of professional publishing standards is no longer relevant today. 6. The tradition of completely independent production is still preserved, but here you can see how the DIY “cut and paste” principle passes from a tangible material medium to a virtual one: newspaper and magazine clippings are replaced by digital manipulations to cut and paste text and images in graphic programs for design and layout. Conclusions. Historically, zines are an integral attribute of punk subculture that arose in the 1970s. With their graphic design, content, prodiction and distribution methods, zines challenged the public mainstream in culture. Under the influence of digital technologies, this attitude isn't so clearly traced; in modern times, zing is one of the alternative communication channels and a way of creative expression.

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