Music As Leisure in the 21st Century: The 'sportisation' of Music Fandom

The term ‘sportisation’ (Elias and Dunning, 2008) is used by figurationalists in a general sense to document the development of rules and regulations for previously chaotic games (e.g. boxing and football) into the commercialised, controlled ‘sports’ that occupy such an important position in modern society. King (1997) focuses on the role that commercial forces, in particular the introduction of modern all-seater football stadiums, have had on the emotional management and masculine identities of sports fans. This paper readdresses the focus on leisure (in this case music fandom) in the figurational sociology of sport and leisure, charting the impact that ‘sportisation’ processes and marketplace influences have had on the live music experience of heavy metal fans.

Drawing from a three year study of heavy metal subculture which incorporated data from participant-observation and interviews, this paper examines how transformations in modern music ‘arenas’ has significantly diminished the quality of the live music experience. This is encapsulated by the problematic issues raised in terms of emotional management and identity projection that that fans have experienced in the context of such transformations. In particular, focus is attributed to the importance of the heavy metal rituals (moshing, crowd-surfing) which have previously been facilitated in ‘controlled’ environments that allowed for the ‘de-controlling’ of emotions and exaggerated displays of masculinity. Following the changes in such subcultural spaces, particularly the increased seating in large music venues, the strategies used by fans to reconceptualise ‘established’ notions of masculinity within the scene and to demonstrate their heavy metal identity are explored.