ABSTRACT
With exceptions such as the work of Daniel Cavicchi, the analysis of fans, as opposed
to subcultures or scenes, is a relatively new area of research in popular music studies.
All too often music scholars would rather explore the text and its producers than
examine dedicated fractions of its audience. In this piece I will situate fandom research
in two ways. The first is to consider briefly the place of researchers, the second, to
point out some gaps in the study of the subject. It seems appropriate to begin with
recent news coverage. In March 2013, UK newspapers rapidly circulated a story about
Courtney Barrasford, a 15-year-old girl who rhapsodized on Twitter about Justin
Bieber’s new album after a friend recommended she hear it. Miss Barrasford tweeted
that, though she was not a fan, she thought the new album was amazing. Bieber
himself then re-tweeted her small item of praise. He was using this, of course, to
promote his new album. If any album could attract a non-fan, his logic went, then it
must be really excellent; in effect, he had potentially won someone new to the fan base.
Common sense among fans might say that expanding the following would only be
a good thing. Some fans consequently offered “welcome to the fan base” type
comments. According to press reports, however, a few of his younger female fans then
lit up with envy (Haydon; Legge). Courtney said she was not a fan and yet she was
getting attention from youngMr Bieber. One 12 year-old supposedly tweeted, “Jus [sic]
tell her to die . . . and leave Justin alone!” A tiny micro-minority of vocal “Beliebers,”
therefore, suddenly found themselves castigated for their hate-speak and a focus of
national attention. One might justly wonder: Were these negative tweeters really fans
at all? What kind of fannish “love” could so quickly turn to hate? No coverage was
given to the online hate pages created by vocal critics or “anti-fans” of Bieber (Gray).
Equally, the acerbic tweets seemed playground talk compared to the obscenities
spouted by legions of sports fans who have regularly come to blows with supporters of
opposing teams.
