The birth and the meaning of fandom
Fandom is not a recent phenomenon and it was not even born during the 1960s with Elvis Presley. Actually, it first appeared in classical concert halls during the 19th century, when Hungarian composer Franz Liszt, coming from a modest background, became the first classical superstar. Even if the suffix ‘mania’ had not exactly the same meaning in the two words, because it had medical resonances during the 19th century, there was a ‘Lisztomania’ as, later, a ‘Beatlemania’: during concerts, fans of Liszt, more precisely women, had hysterical reactions to the pianist and his music. Liszt performed a broad keyboard repertoire, from Bach to Chopin. Women had his portrait, several tried to get some of his hair, etc. Playing the piano in a way that was described as hypnotic, Liszt, in some way, invented the profession of international concert pianist, giving thousands of concerts in eight years because of his exceptional musical memory and because he became an object of fantasy and secret desires.
In fact, fandom is a commercialization of desire, mainly through media. It is sometimes incriminated in distorting the relationship of people to their own expectations. It may happen that fans, wanting to establish personal contact with famous musicians or, at least, to follow them everywhere, neglect their own social reality, needs, health and wealth. Of course, fandom is generally associated with uncontrolled screaming reflecting an ecstatic state. But beyond the artists themselves, it is often the various life situations experienced by the fans that nurtures the fanatism. For example, Beatles’ fans were mainly adolescent girls who, most of the time, were forbidden to go out, as they were too young. Irreverent Beatles, singing they want to hold ‘their’ hands, were the perfect escape from routine and daily life. And when they went to concerts, more than listening to the music, it was all about participating in a ritual where they were celebrating their youth and their power, in one word, themselves.
Chatbots and the future of fandom
For fans, the virtual relationship with an artist and its erotic aspect is only a small part of fandom, where the idea of community may be important, as it decreases, during concerts, the social differences between fans for one evening. With the development of the internet, both fan clubs and social interactions between musicians and fans have increased. The commercial principles linked to fandom remain and, in a sense, when tthe fans are as interested in musicians’ personalities as much as by their music, fans endorse the part of the music industry that is about selling dreams.
But today, fandom has new means: fans visit musicians’ official websites, verified social media accounts and, in recent times, celebrity chat bots have appeared on the virtual stage: structured as question-and-answer services, these bots have extracted data from interviews given by musicians in order to capture the attention of fans at the moment of their choice. At this time, bots’ interfaces are made up of a group of cards containing questions the fans can click in order to get the answers they want.