Links roundup for 14 July 2012

[otw_staff]

Here's a roundup of musical fandom stories in the news that might be of interest to fans:

• Wired magazine wrote about the attention brought to a One Direction cartoon created by Mark Parsons, beginning "Normally, fan fiction about U.K. boy band One Direction is not anything new on the internet. But when that fanfic comes in the form of a video created by the lead animator of raunchy spy cartoon Archer...and gets more than a million YouTube views in less than two days — it’s worth noting." They also suggest that the video, unlike regular fanfic "has rather creative layers that tie together pop culture tropes" and "if this means that fan fiction is moving from Fifty Shades of Grey into viral video territory, that’s totally OK." The widely duplicated press coverage was viral in its own way, leading to stories that the band members might contribute to future work.


• In possibly the ultimate baitlink, one site managed to combine discussion of One Direction, Fifty Shades of Grey and mentions of slash all into one story. "Harry Styles and the rest of One Direction have tons of raunchy fan fiction written about them, so it was only a matter of time before someone decided to combine 1D and the erotic novel Fifty Shades of Grey. However, it seemed more likely that the fanfic writer would be a cougar with a crush on Hazza or a Directioner that found her mom's copy of Fifty Shades, not a male Associated Editor of NOW Magazine." The author went on to note "Plenty of erotic novel writers will probably try to replicate the success of Fifty Shades by focusing on stories about sadomasochism, but they'll likely fail since readers are always looking for something new. The older woman and younger man angle really might be a smart way to go since it's also a bit taboo." Another piece of good advice? "If Gavin Reeve-Daniels is hoping to sell his Fifty Shades of One Direction story to actual Directioners, he's got it all wrong - what they'd like to read would be a Larry Stylinson (Harry and Louis Tomlinson) or Narry (Harry and Niall Horan) love story."


• What many fans aren't enjoying reading is Tumblr's Storyboard project "a weeklong feature titled "Special Report: Inside the Crazy World of 1D Fandom." Tumblr's Storyboard effort and its partnership with other online media sites appears to be a way to both deliver its young demographic to news sites eager to get readers who did not grow up with a news reading habit, as well as an effort to find a sustainable business model. This is both because they want to encourage people to spend more time at the site and also to highlight particular brands in a more editorial way after more direct marketing was abandoned last year. However the editorial cross promotion makes it as likely that Tumblr users will be served up as content to other sites as that they will have content served to them. This means that the lack of control over their representation currently being experienced by One Direction fans will likely not be an isolated incident.

If you're a One Direction fan, why not write about the fandom in Fanlore? Additions are welcome from all fans.

We want your suggestions! If you know of an essay, video, article, event, or link you think we should know about, comment on the most recent Links Roundup — on transformativeworks.org. Links are welcome in all languages! Submitting a link doesn't guarantee that it will be included in a roundup post, and inclusion of a link doesn't mean that it is endorsed by the OTW. Mirrored from an original post on the OTW blog. Find related news by viewing our tag cloud.

Links roundup for 14 July 2012

[otw-staff.livejournal.com]

Here's a roundup of musical fandom stories in the news that might be of interest to fans:

• Wired magazine wrote about the attention brought to a One Direction cartoon created by Mark Parsons, beginning "Normally, fan fiction about U.K. boy band One Direction is not anything new on the internet. But when that fanfic comes in the form of a video created by the lead animator of raunchy spy cartoon Archer...and gets more than a million YouTube views in less than two days — it’s worth noting." They also suggest that the video, unlike regular fanfic "has rather creative layers that tie together pop culture tropes" and "if this means that fan fiction is moving from Fifty Shades of Grey into viral video territory, that’s totally OK." The widely duplicated press coverage was viral in its own way, leading to stories that the band members might contribute to future work.


• In possibly the ultimate baitlink, one site managed to combine discussion of One Direction, Fifty Shades of Grey and mentions of slash all into one story. "Harry Styles and the rest of One Direction have tons of raunchy fan fiction written about them, so it was only a matter of time before someone decided to combine 1D and the erotic novel Fifty Shades of Grey. However, it seemed more likely that the fanfic writer would be a cougar with a crush on Hazza or a Directioner that found her mom's copy of Fifty Shades, not a male Associated Editor of NOW Magazine." The author went on to note "Plenty of erotic novel writers will probably try to replicate the success of Fifty Shades by focusing on stories about sadomasochism, but they'll likely fail since readers are always looking for something new. The older woman and younger man angle really might be a smart way to go since it's also a bit taboo." Another piece of good advice? "If Gavin Reeve-Daniels is hoping to sell his Fifty Shades of One Direction story to actual Directioners, he's got it all wrong - what they'd like to read would be a Larry Stylinson (Harry and Louis Tomlinson) or Narry (Harry and Niall Horan) love story."


• What many fans aren't enjoying reading is Tumblr's Storyboard project "a weeklong feature titled "Special Report: Inside the Crazy World of 1D Fandom." Tumblr's Storyboard effort and its partnership with other online media sites appears to be a way to both deliver its young demographic to news sites eager to get readers who did not grow up with a news reading habit, as well as an effort to find a sustainable business model. This is both because they want to encourage people to spend more time at the site and also to highlight particular brands in a more editorial way after more direct marketing was abandoned last year. However the editorial cross promotion makes it as likely that Tumblr users will be served up as content to other sites as that they will have content served to them. This means that the lack of control over their representation currently being experienced by One Direction fans will likely not be an isolated incident.

If you're a One Direction fan, why not write about the fandom in Fanlore? Additions are welcome from all fans.

We want your suggestions! If you know of an essay, video, article, event, or link you think we should know about, comment on the most recent Links Roundup. Links are welcome in all languages! Submitting a link doesn't guarantee that it will be included in a roundup post, and inclusion of a link doesn't mean that it is endorsed by the OTW. Mirrored from an original post on the OTW blog. Find related news by viewing our tag cloud.