![]() What type of engagement and memorabilia is most valued by fans, and how is it acquired? What roles do social media play in the fan relationship? Our analysis identifies specific groups of fans, by their demographics, their newcomer/repeat visitor status, and their reports on how and why they chose to engage in fan-related activities while at Bluesfest. This research utilises university media students to query festival participants about their engagement in these participatory activities and their perspective on ‘being a fan’. Through such activities, festival participants signal their legitimacy as fans and, often via social media, their membership of a larger cohort of fans. While fandom is an elusive concept, it may be partially measured through several indicators: buying artist merchandise, queuing for CD signing and/or photos, and attending musicians’ Q&A sessions. Crucially, as part of the live music experience, the music festival enables ticketholders to engage in activities vital to being a fan. This article explores how fans of prolific touring artists U2 and Tori Amos undertake this, with assigned concert attendees tweeting the set-list to online fans, where they gather to enjoy the show together, from the comfort of their computers.Įach Easter, outside the iconic beachside town of Byron Bay, thousands of music fans converge for Bluesfest – a five-day blues and roots festival where international musicians from rock, blues and roots traditions perform alongside rising local talent, as well as some of the more eclectic musicians from Australia and the rest of the world. It demonstrates how these online tools are involving fans that are not physically present at the show, seemingly incorporating them into the real-time “live” experience. ![]() This study examines the responses of fans engaged in this activity, identifying the key themes and patterns apparent within this behaviour, arguing that fans are using social media and mobile technology in an effort to contest and reshape the boundaries of live music concerts. It has not only allowed fans to find and connect with each other at shows, but also to tweet and text concert set-lists and other information as they happen, thereby allowing non-attendees around the world to feel part of the event. In recent years, the expansion and use of mobile Internet and social media have changed live music engagement and fandom quite considerably. Moreover, it questions whether Facebook platform has a lasting future as the leading online platform for music related activity. This leads to debates that question the user and music artist's benefits of following bands on Facebook other than for news updates. Therefore, the function is at odds with the rhetoric of Facebook as the leading platform for participation and community building. Facebook Pages experience low levels of fan-to-fan engagement which suggests they cannot be identified as online communities. Whilst some artists undertake more active and personal roles to updates, the results indicate that Facebook Pages function in a similar vein to newsletters than online forums. Facebook Pages for music artists experience low-levels of engagement between fans. Analysis was conducted by one researcher over a period of 7 days. Content and thematic analysis of Facebook Walls for the Pages of 9 UK based music bands of varying size and scale - from major, emerging and local unsigned artists. This involved taking the artists respective popularity into account against the relational likelihood of user contribution. Facebook's perceived reputation of harbouring interactivity would be tested by appraising the artist's social media approach, the resultant levels of fan engagement and also the evidence of a self-sufficient online community. The central aim is to test whether it is misleading to suppose that a Facebook Page will enhance artist fandom, in terms of growth, devotion and loyalty. It is now commonplace for most music artists to host a Facebook Page, and in some cases, it even replaces an actual website as their official online platform (as with my band). This led me to question whether this was true for other music artists on Facebook. I began to question whether our Facebook followers could be defined as an online community having observed that fan-to-fan interaction was practically non-existent. The study was driven by personal experience of managing my own band's Facebook Page. The research aims to explore whether Facebook Pages can be considered as online communities. This study aims to examine whether Facebook Pages offer music artists the ideal platform to expand their fanbase and develop an active, engaging and interactive online fandom.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |