Luann Williams, the editor and publisher of Pop Culture Press, isn’t the type who waits for opportunity to knock. “In the mid-eighties I was working at a Memphis record store and loved music magazines,” says the thirtysomething Tennessee native. “I was looking at a couple, and I thought, ‘You know, there’s nothing like this published here. Let’s do one.’” Since relocating to indie-music mecca Austin in 1987, Williams has grown PCP’s circulation to three thousand, with many readers coming from outside the U.S. “I get letters from pop fanatics,” she says. “Believe it or not, we get over to Japan, Europe, and Australia.” Besides features on such indie favorites as Robyn Hitchcock, They Might Be Giants, and Ben Folds Five, the quarterly includes about one hundred music reviews and comes with a CD that features music by the artists in the issue—all for the price of $4.95. Lucky for Williams’ readers, her bottom line isn’t profit. “It’s definitely a labor of love,” she says.
