Links roundup for 28 March 2012

[otw-staff.livejournal.com]

Here's a roundup of stories on fan clubs that might be of interest to fans:

• As this article on the Valient Thorr band's 'Thorrior' followers begins, many people believe fan clubs are a thing of the past. "Once a staple of rock 'n' roll fandom, the official fan club has been made mostly obsolete thanks to Facebook, Twitter, and the like. Who needs a newsletter or exclusive forum when there's probably a better, cheaper alternative? A handful of notable, named, and relatively organized clubs still exist—Pearl Jam's Ten Club, the Metallica Club, and Turbonegro's Turbojugend among them—and most are dedicated to giant, decades-old bands." However, as bandleader Valient points out in the accompanying interview, these groups are still vital to artistic success. "The Thorriors started by itself. That, to me, is what's so cool about it. If you're really DIY, you have no f[]in' time to organize something like that. It has to be grassroots, because if you're writing music and driving yourself and booking your hotels and getting to the venues, it's just one thing after another . . . When nobody else gives a shit, at least you've got your fans who are going to be there.


• The fan club continues to be relevant to fandoms old and new, whether it exists in a print or digital format. While individual music fans may go to extremes for performer contact, the importance of groups and their activities can be significant to different performers and projects. The Jakarta Globe documents the importance of L’Arc en Ciel Indonesia, which started as a Facebook group for fans of the popular Japanese rock band L'Arc en Ciel and whose members first met in person in 2009. "That early membership has since blossomed into a full-fledged community of a whopping 15,000-plus that regularly meets for social gatherings, Japanese-themed bazaars and J-rock and J-pop tribute concerts." The group is quite organized. "Each regional subcommunity has its own leader, but Kirani Sharie, 24, heads the entire organization." Like many groups, they engage in charity work, "like tribute gigs for charity or Ramadan fast-breaking-hours at orphanages."


• Technology is inextricably bound up with fan activities, including the ways in which certain platforms are particularly well suited to fan use and communication, and changes in tech affect how fans are able to influence producers. In television, the way that time-shifting can now be tracked means that "[t]he daily ratings are in many ways a mirage now, sure to change significantly once the people who time-shift their television viewing are taken into account." It has also meant a change in ad sales: "In the past, Thursday night shows carried the highest prices in television, because advertisers paid a premium to reach people before their movie openings or weekend car sales. 'Now they buy us on Wednesday,' [Paul Lee, the president of ABC Entertainment] said, the day that new 'Modern Family' episodes are broadcast, 'and they know they are going to get Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday.'" This has also meant a resurgence in scripted programs as they are more likely to be recorded and rewatched.

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Comments

50 Shades of Grey, and the Twilight Pro-fic Phenomenon, and more.

[spiced-wine.livejournal.com]

Not sure if you have been following this? (or if it is of interest).

First from The Mary Sue site (link goes to article)

Quote:


Last year I wrote about my frustration with the publishing industry (http://www.themarysue.com/ya-publishing-industry-de-gays-books-what-are-the-options/), and discussed ways for fandom to make a space for itself in the world of publishing and beyond. As it happens, the Twilight fandom was already way ahead of me: 50 Shades of Grey, an erotic novel by E.L. James, is a NYT #1 bestseller and an e-book phenomenon that began its life as a hugely popular fanfic. With over 250,000 digital copies sold, the trilogy that opens with 50 Shades recently sold print rights for 7 figures in an astronomical bidding war. (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/10/business/media/an-erotic-novel-50-shades-of-grey-goes-viral-with-women.html?_r=1) But 50 Shades isn’t just “mommy porn,” as many have dismissively labeled it, purportedly due to its popularity with Manhattan wives and mothers. 50 Shades is a phenomenon within a phenomenon within a phenomenon: that is, it’s the mega-hit from a group of successful published pro-fics which have all come out of the immense Twilight fandom.


But we’re not just talking coincidental one-offs in which a few Twilight fans filed off the serial numbers and published their fics on the downlow. No, we’re talking dozens of converted fics. We’re talking a steady and systematic pool of writers within the Twilight fandom that have gotten so good at churning out easily-convertible fanfiction that no less than three separate e-book publishers have been created by fans within the fandom specifically for the purpose of publishing these works of Twilight fanfic (http://www.themarysue.com/50-shades-of-grey-and-the-twilight-pro-fic-phenomenon/)




Also related, a series of articles by bookshop on Manga Bookshelf.


Lofty Idealism? Bitter Rants? Might as well call it fangirling. (http://mangabookshelf.com/blog/2012/03/20/lofty-idealism-bitter-rants-might-as-well-just-call-it-fangirling/)
Quote.
I’ve been in fandom for 14 years. I’ve been active in lit, media, RPF, and Asian fandoms, writing het, slash, and femslash.

My mission statement, in a nutshell:

♥´¨`♥ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Fanfic is okay. Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ ♥´¨`♥

Not just okay, but amazing. I believe that participating in fandom is a way of engaging in critical discourse about something you love, and I also believe that fanfiction is part of a huge, centuries-old cultural tradition of recursive literature.

Fannish Inquisitions: Countering Assumptions About Fandom. (http://mangabookshelf.com/blog/2012/03/21/fannish-inquisitions-countering-assumptions-about-fandom-part-1/)

50 Shades of Morally Unambiguous: part I, (http://mangabookshelf.com/blog/2012/03/24/50-shades-of-morally-unambiguous-part-1/)

Quote.
( Fanfiction has for a long time existed as the elephant in the editorial room, and the wild success of 50 Shades is finally, for better or worse, forcing the conversation about whether or not fanfic is legitimate to move foward after a steady decade and a half of rapidly advancing the argument in fanfic’s favor. )
and

Part II. (http://mangabookshelf.com/blog/2012/03/24/50-shades-of-morally-unambiguous-part-2/)
Quote.
(Copyright will always deter straightforward derivative rip-offs of your work, but it doesn’t guarantee your work can’t be really transformed and that money won’t be made off that transformation. The copyright holder can be legally subject to having their work taken and revamped and published in (at least?) 4 ways:)

[otw-staff.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the links! Yes, there's an upcoming post regarding 50 Shades coming next week.

[spiced-wine.livejournal.com]

there's an upcoming post regarding 50 Shades coming next week.

Oh, great stuff. I look forward to it!

[bookshop.livejournal.com]

oh, gosh! /o\

er. for the sake of completeness, here are the last 2 links in the series if you want them?!

Part 3 (http://mangabookshelf.com/blog/2012/03/28/50-shades-of-morally-unambiguous-part-3-the-sparkle-fairy-edition/) and Part 4! (http://mangabookshelf.com/blog/2012/04/04/50-shades-of-morally-unambiguous-part-4-the-final-post-i-swear/)

[spiced-wine.livejournal.com]

Sorry for commenting again, but related to the 50 Shades of Grey brouhaha, just read a link mentioning it, but the purpose of the blog was to state that The Hunger Games is a Rip-off. (http://www.fightingmonkeypress.com/hunger-games-is-a-rip-off/?utm_term=New+Post+from+Pav)

[otw-staff.livejournal.com]

There are certainly a variety of discussions that have been revolving around Grey, though as that post points out, successful stories aren't necessarily successful because of their originality.