“An Awful Lot of Running” : Filk across time and space : Wrock, Trock, and the commercialisation of fan music

Abstract

Fan music has become increasingly commercialised and professional over the past decade and this increased commercialisation mirrors wider socio-technological change brought on by the rise of participatory and new digital technologies which facilitate the production and distribution of user-generated content. Examining fandom and how fan production can be seen to user-generated content which operates within a spectrum of informality, this thesis attempts to analyse how recent forms of fan music such as Wizard Rock (Wrock) and Time Lord Rock (Trock) indicate a shift towards commercialisation in fan music. Focussing on Trock, which is music about Doctor Who, as the culmination of this commercialisation, the history of the show, its fandom, and the nuanced relationship between its producers and fans will be examined to provide a context for how Trock has become legitimised by the BBC and the producers of Doctor Who and the issues with this legitimisation. Because Trock can be considered a YouTube phenomenon, analysis into how YouTube operates as a user-generated intermediary that has successfully monetised, and as a result commercialised, amateur content, and the anxieties regarding conceptualisations of the amateur nature of user-generated content and the professionalism brought on by commercialisation, will be looked at. Drawing on theories of fan appropriation regarding fan fiction, I argue that fan music fulfils a similarly important engagement with culture and will examine how Wrock and Trock function as fan practices. Furthermore, due to this shift towards a commercialisation and professionalisation of fan music, I argue that Wrock and Trock have moved away from the inclusive community and amateur folk ethos of their fan music predecessor, Filk, where there was little distinction between performers and spectators, to a more exclusive divide where performers are identified as such and perform to an audience.