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Dr. Westcot
Focused Inquiry II
7 December 2015
The Evolution of Fandom in Music
In our present society the general population co-exists through different social groups and
cultures, these cultures are self identifying groups that create a feeling of belonging and a basis
for social movement and change. Every culture is susceptible to change over the years due to the
constant surfacing of new ideas in society. The center of fan culture in music is experiencing a
concert, where one encounters people of all ages, genders, and ethnicities that come together in
support of the artist or band. Similar to many other cultures, fan culture has also transitioned
through the years to be a culture that has spread internationally and to all ages. Present day
fandom has continued to stay parallel with social and technological changes in society.
My very first concert was in the fourth grade. My mom and I were huge Dixie Chicks
fans and she decided to enter a radio contest for two box seat tickets to see the Dixie Chicks, to
our surprise she won the tickets. I was not sure what to expect, at that age I was the only person I
knew who liked the band so I was not sure what type of people I would be encountering. I
remember walking to the Wells Fargo Center and seeing the tailgate parties and slightly drunk
crowds which made me slightly nervous. When I went inside and took my seat I got a true view
of the arena and to my surprise I saw people of all ages. There was grand moms, dads, girls night
out groups and even fourth graders like myself. It amazed me to see how music has the power to
bring everyone together to celebrate what we have in common, a liking for the specific artist’s
music and how that makes us feel.
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What the media portrays as fun culture is often teenage girls idolizing boy bands and
although that is a part of mainstream fan culture, the idolization of music artists does not always
end at late adolescence. There is a plethora of reasons as to why one becomes particularly
infatuated with an artist, according to Löbert, trauma research has pointed out that there is
always a need for a redeemer whom victims use for the illusion that a positive outcome from the
situation they suffered from is still possible (Löbert 136). Although adolescents can use music as
a coping method as well, it is accurate to assume that if an adult continues to idolize an artist it is
because of the lyrics and the memories that they associate with the meaning of the words, rather
than the physical appearance of the performer. The Dixie Chicks produced songs that had
narrative stories and they sang about personal experiences, it is likely that many of the older fans
grew up listening to them and had associated specific feelings and memories, or they closely
related to the lyrics. Although Lobert provides evidence that idolization can extend past the years
of adolescence, Levesque states that idolization reaches its peak in late childhood and early
adolescence, meaning the ages ten to eleven (Levesque 1377). To adolescents, idolization
provides a basis for self expression, identity and values, which adults already have developed
and experienced, therefore their idolization period has ended.
Flash forward to my teenage years also known as the era of Taylor Swift, at the age of
fourteen I was the epitome of a teenage “fan girl”. I had every album on my ipod and a picture of
her as my flip phone background. I begged my mom mercifully for tickets at the Lincoln
Financial Center. This stadium is ten times the size of the Dixie Chicks venue and this time the
majority of the crowd was overwhelmingly moms and their teenage daughters with a hint of a
dad or boyfriend here and there. The popular fashion trend was homemade t-shirts decorated
with Taylor Swift lyrics in neon colors and the overwhelming popular accessory was the
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cellphone. When the performance began the stadium lit up with little phone screens, from across
the stadium they looked like flickering candles, and everywhere you looked pictures were being
taken and videos recorded. As expected, there was a lot of singing along and screaming but only
from behind the cellphone screen, it was odd to think how much money these tickets cost yet
almost everyone was watching the concert from their screen as they recorded the performance.
At that point in time social media was not what it is today, Facebook was just a place to post
pictures we thought we looked cute in, Twitter and Instagram were not existent and texts took
about five minutes to type if you didn’t have the fancy keyboard. The pictures were not of good
quality but it was proof that we were there, and that is what social media has become; not only a
way to connect and interact with others, but also a place to simply overshare our lives.
The advancements in technology have redefined the concert experience. Concerts are no
longer as simple as the artist walking on stage and performing, today concerts include large stage
setups with moving platforms, secret entrances, light shows, and large jumbotron-type screens.
While stage technology has changed over time, so has fan behavior. Bennett states the use of
mobile internet and social networks such as Twitter and Facebook has allowed fans to connect
with each other whether they are at the concert or not (Bennett 545). Audience members collect
pictures and recordings throughout the concert and these pictures and videos are then posted for
all to see online or sent to friends and family to share their experience. This constant need to
share thoughts and location is what social media feeds off of and its what has made it a lucrative
industry. As a fellow member of the teenage community, I am more than guilty of slaving over
social media, staying closely connected makes me feel involved and well informed on my friends
and family, fashion, politics and my favorite celebrities. A study on adolescent idolization
conducted by Amiram Raviv explains that social media as a new media channel has increased
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fans knowledge on their favorite celebrity or artist (Raviv 634), but in combination with cell
phone technology, social media is also largely used to advertise music as well. Artists and
performers are reaching new territories and creating new fan bases in areas they have never even
performed at before, popular artist such as One Direction, Adele, and Lorde all used media
outlets to gain popularity in the United States.
There came a time where I gained some independence from my parents, by my senior
year in high school I had a job, a car and a long list of places to travel and things to do. My
music taste had matured from Taylor Swift and other mainstream music artists and I deemed
myself ready for a music festival. I had seen media coverage of the infamous star-studded
festivals such as Coachella but I decided I was going to start small with Made in America, a
smaller urban festival in center city Philadelphia. The initial idea of me going to the Philadelphia
parkway with thousands of potentially impaired people gave my mom anxiety, but eventually her
desire for me to experience everything I could became stronger than her fear for my life. It was
interesting to see the different crowds each stage and performer drew in, there was four stages,
the smallest stage was next to a makeshift skate park which drew in fans of the skate culture,
while the main stages brought in all types of people depending on the artist performing at the
time. Naturally, I noticed a very different crowd at the Kanye performance compared to the type
of people at The National’s performance. To be literally surrounded by people who you know for
a fact have at least one thing in common with creates a positive environment, while tirelessly
standing in tightly packed crowds to wait for an artist it was usual to start conversation with
those around you. The conversation usually started with a “sorry” for bumping into them and
stepping on their toes, but then it escalates to asking where they’re from and so on. I’ve met
people from California, Arizona, and even Spain and I’ve gotten a few of their numbers and met
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up with them the next day of the festival. Music has a way of bringing people together in such a
positive way, everyone has the same goal: to relax and enjoy the music they love and that has
been enough to keep me going back every year, and to take on Bonnaroo in the spring.
Peer groups in general hold great social importance, peer groups are factions that create a
feeling of belonging because member’s values, goals, and beliefs are all similar and members
can identify with each other. At a concert the audience members are apart of fan culture,
meaning although they all have difference experiences and reasons for being there, they all
appreciate the music being played. This shared appreciation creates a positive environment for
interaction. According to Philip Auslander, “a sense of community arises from being a part of an
audience and the quality of the experience of community derives from the specific audience
situation, not from the spectacle for which that audience has gathered” (qtd. In Bennett 549).
Auslander is presenting the idea that the audience coming together as a community, and the
experience of being an audience member does not stem from the performer, it comes from an
inner excitement and anticipation that everyone in the crowd is experiencing. According to
Miranda, when not at a concert music can continue to serve as a point of connection. Music
stimulates interpersonal relationships in social events and when an interaction begins music
preference is used to manage first impressions and acquire a social perception about the values of
the person they have met (Miranda 7). Some of my most successful friendships have been built
on the basis of similar music taste, it has created a strong bond and social environment where we
can go to concerts together and still keep that positive energy even when we aren’t at a concert or
talking about music. Socially, music creates opportunities to connect with others whether at a
concert or not.
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Through the years fan culture has changed and transitioned with time and so have I.
With each new age my taste in music has changed and with that my concert experience has as
well. The culture itself has continued to create a positive atmosphere at each concert while
everything else around it changes. Due to new technology the actual environment of the usual
concert has changed and the emergence of social media and cell phones has produced an online
presence. I have attended ten concerts in my life so far and with each one I take home an
experience I will never forget, yes, the performer has a large part in shaping that experience for
me but I owe my good time to the people who were around me, and my phone for capturing the
memories and moments. Fans from all over the world have the ability to connect and share their
interests online, furthering expanding this world wide international peer group that continues to
draw in all types of people ranging in age and will continue to do so for as long as music exists.
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Works Cited
Bennett, Lucy. “Patterns of Listening Through Social Media: Online Fan Engagement With the
Live Music Experience.” Social Semiotics 22.5 (2012): 545-557. Ebscohost. Web. 19
Oct. 2015
Levesque, Roger J. R. “Idols and Idolization.” Encyclopedia of Adolescence. 1st ed. 2013. Web
Löbert, Anja. “Fandom as a Religious Form: On the Reception of Pop Music by Cliff Richard
Fans in Liverpool.” Popular Music 31.1 (2012): 125-141. Ebscohost. Web. 19 Oct. 2015.
Miranda, Dave. “The Role of Music in Adolescent Development: Much More Than the Same
Old Song.” International Journal of Adolescence and Youth 18.1 (2013): 5-22. Taylor &
Francis Online. Web. 19 Oct. 2015.
Raviv, Amiram, Daniel Bar-Tal, Alona Raviv, Asaf Ben-Horin. “Adolescent Idolization of Pop
Singers: Causes, Expressions, and Reliance.” Journal of Youth and Adolescence 25.1
(1996): 631-650. Springer Link. Web. 19 Oct. 2015.