1. Introduction
[1.1] As a phenomenon, popular music fandom has been traditionally associated with young people and youth culture (Kotarba and Vannini 2009; Laughey 2006; Loh and Gilmour 2022). Recently, however, both researchers and the media have become increasingly conscious of a change in this age-related linkage: Music fandom has started to lose its position as a distinctively youth cultural phenomenon, expanding more and more into the realms of childhood and adulthood. Children's interest in popular music content directed at older audiences is not a new phenomenon (Bickford 2020; Kotarba and Vannini 2009). However, the increasing presence of online media, mobile devices, and easy-to-use touchscreen technologies in children's lives has provided them with a new kind of access to popular music culture and the fan phenomena related to it (Marsh and Bishop 2014). Consequently, music fandom has become an important part of contemporary children's culture. In Finland, for example, 31 percent of children aged seven to nine identify themselves as fans of some musician or band (Poikolainen 2021).
[1.2] Despite the essential changes in the relationship between childhood and music fandom, prior research on popular music fan culture has mostly ignored children, marginalizing them as fans. Where the changing age structure of music fandom has gained more in-depth scholarly attention, it has been typically approached from the perspective of adult audiences and aging fans (e.g., Anderson 2012; Hills 2019a; Loh and Gilmour 2022). In fact, the scarcity of research on child audiences has characterized the whole field of fan studies until recently (Hills 2019b; Hunting 2019). This gap has been linked to challenges related to studying children, such as age group–specific issues concerning research ethics, access, and sensitivity (Hills 2019b), as well as to the field's reliance on conventionalized, narrow perceptions of fandom and being a fan (Hunting 2019). On the other hand, the lack of interest in musical childhoods is not limited to fan studies, as children's musical cultures have long been overlooked within music studies (Campbell 2015; Campbell and Wiggins 2012).
[1.3] I aim to bridge this scholarly gap by studying children's popular music fandom and the intergenerational dynamics related to it in the context of familial interaction. I approach the topic from the perspective of fan enculturation—that is, the social processes through which an individual develops interest in and becomes affected by specific cultural content; adopts fan cultural practices, knowledge, and agencies; or maintains and deepens their existing fandoms and fan identities. The study is based on interviews of fifteen self-identified Finnish music fans aged seven to eleven years old. It draws from the traditions of childhood studies and child-initiated research on children's music cultures, approaching children as active cultural agents and studying their engagement with fan culture through a "'child's eye' perspective" (Campbell and Wiggins 2012, 2).
2. Enculturation, music, and fandom
[2.1] The theoretical core concept of this study—enculturation—was originally rooted in the field of anthropology, where it was developed by Melville Herskovits (Berry and Georgas 2008). According to Herskovits (1948, 39), enculturation refers to the continuous, often lifelong process in which an individual "achieves competence in his culture." It covers the gradual acquisition of behaviors, rituals, norms, values, knowledge, beliefs, and languages considered necessary and appropriate by the culture in question (Berry and Georgas 2008; Poole 2003; Tan 2014). Through enculturation, individuals internalize the mindsets and practices of their local environments, gaining and maintaining an insider status within their own culture(s) (Mapana 2012; Tan 2014). The acquisition of these features may happen consciously or unconsciously, either with or without deliberate instruction (Berry and Georgas 2008; Herskovits 1948; Schönpflug and Bilz 2008). The role of the individual in this process is seen as that of an (inter)active agent. As Weinreich (2009, 127) states, "Enculturation references the agentic individual's process of identification with whatever cultural elements of influential others are available to the person."
[2.2] The concept of enculturation bears many similarities to that of socialization, which has been widely used in the social sciences. According to the classical approach, socialization can be defined as "the basic social process through which an individual becomes integrated into a social group" (Putney and Bengtson 2002, 167). Resulting from these similarities, the concepts have often been used interchangeably. At the same time, many scholars—while recognizing their interconnectedness—have called for more distinctive definitions. In an early commentary, Mead (1963, 187) suggested that socialization should be understood as a process leading to the fulfillment of universal requirements placed on individuals by human societies, whereas enculturation refers to "learning a culture in all its uniqueness and particularity." According to this line of thought, enculturation can be understood as integration into a specific cultural community and its ideational realm, while socialization appears as a process of becoming a part of society and its interactive dynamics (Poole 2003; Schönpflug and Bilz 2008).
[2.3] Some scholars underline the differences in the forms of cultural transmission connected to parallel concepts. From this perspective, socialization is associated primarily with deliberate shaping of the individual, whereas enculturation is perceived as a process that often takes place without deliberate teaching or explicit learning (Berry and Georgas 2008; Schönpflug and Bilz 2008). Moreover, the discussion of socialization has been criticized for ignoring individual agency and cherishing imagery of "cultural downloading" (Guhin et al. 2021, 110), due to which the concept has lost much of its former status, partly in favor of the enculturation approach. In the field of consumer studies, for example, the concept of commercial enculturation has been brought out as a more sensitive and nuanced alternative to the traditional idea of consumer socialization, which is seen as too linear and unidirectional (Cook 2010).
[2.4] The enculturation perspective has become an object of increasing interest in the context of music cultures as well. Research on musical enculturation has mapped the process through which individuals absorb musical abilities, behaviors, and knowledge fostered by their everyday environments (Campbell 2015; Corrigall and Trainor 2010; Mapana 2012; Tan 2014). The scope and history of this approach spans from ethnomusicological and anthropological research on musical learning "in distant 'other' places" (Young 2009, 697) to neuroscientific analyses of musical development. It covers a broad array of themes related to cultural transmission, ranging from musical identities, aesthetic norms, and contextual uses of music to the development of harmonic and rhythmic understanding (Campbell 2011; Corrigall and Trainor 2010; Mapana 2012; Morrison et al. 2008; Tan 2014). Within this approach, prior research often emphasizes the importance of family and the childhood home as a basis for musical enculturation (Campbell 2011, 2015; Mapana 2012; Tan 2014).
[2.5] Fan studies, on the other hand, has scarcely utilized the concept of enculturation. The most explicit example of applying it to fandom research might be Bacon-Smith's (2000) analysis of fan enculturation within the science fiction fan community. Bacon-Smith discusses the ways in which fannish parents and fan communities enculturate new generations and other newcomers into sci-fi fan culture. However, the most systematic research on learning fandom has been conducted in the field of sports fandom. Studies on the topic typically rely on the terminology of socialization research but, in light of what I discuss above, the processes they map could also be located under the concept of enculturation. These studies emphasize the role of family (particularly fathers) in enculturating individuals into sports fandom (Allison and Pope 2022; Farrell et al. 2011; Hyatt et al. 2018; Pfister et al. 2018; Thomson and Williams 2014).
[2.6] Research on sports fandom has provided fan studies with its probably most well-known analytical model for tracing the process of fan enculturation. The Psychological Continuum Model, introduced by Funk and James (2001), consists of four floors through which the individual's connection to cultural (fan) objects deepens. The continuum starts with awareness in which the individual, guided by extrinsic influences, becomes aware of certain sports and teams but without adopting any of them as their favorite. When understanding and interest increase, the individual may move on to the second floor, attraction, which is characterized by the selection of (an) acknowledged favorite(s). The third floor, attachment, includes the crystallization of this association, resulting in a stable and more intrinsically motivated connection with the object. The final floor, allegiance, is characterized by loyalty and commitment to the fan object, manifested in durable and consistent fan behavior.
[2.7] Research on music fandom has dealt with the elements of fan enculturation mostly in the context of becoming-a-fan narratives. Cavicchi (1998) learned in his study on Bruce Springsteen fandom that fans often picture the development of their fan relationship as an epiphanic, conversion-like transformation followed by a "period of exploration" (44). Descriptions of more gradual processes also occurred among Springsteen fans, but less frequently. Benzecry (2009) analyzes the learning paths of opera fandom, studying the initial attraction to opera culture, as well as the later cultivation of personal fan relationships. The analysis pictures learning fandom as a two-level process comprising both internal (how to interpret the cultural product and decode related enjoyment) and external (how to display one's appreciation) dimensions. In a more recent study, Keith (2019) focuses on the becoming-a-fan stories of Australian K-pop fans. Like Benzecry, Keith analyzes both the initial "moment of conversion" and the practices related to maintaining the fan relationship.
[2.8] Riddell's (2021) research on the becoming-a-fan narratives of Beatles and Johnny Cash fans comes closest to the scope of this article, as it deals in part with intergenerational fandom and the development of fan identities during childhood. Some of Riddell's interviewees said that they had become fans in early childhood, growing—or even born—into their parents' fandom. At the same time, Riddell emphasizes that "socialization" into fandom is not limited to the becoming-a-fan stage, but forms a process that is "ongoing across the fan-span" (196). Contrasting Cavicchi (1998), Riddell notes that in these fan narratives, transition to fandom typically appeared as a gradual process instead of a clearly pinpointable conversion.
[2.9] I use the concept of enculturation as a lens for analyzing children's music fandom and the intergenerational interaction related to it. I study these themes from the perspective of the fan enculturation process—that is, the emergence and further development of the individual fan relationship—which I discuss on two interconnected levels: the musical and the fan cultural. By the musical level, I refer to the general process of becoming aware of and interested in certain musical phenomena, as well as adopting basic practices of music consumption. As such, this level is closely linked to musical enculturation in general. The fan cultural level builds on the musical level and covers the formation and further development of a fan relationship and identity (learning different fan practices, gaining subcultural capital, and connecting and interacting with other fans). This level is also linked to the communal learning of collective norms and values, as well as to multimodal, fandom-related (media) literacies, which are recognized as important dimensions of integration into fan culture (Jenkins 2019). The two levels of enculturation, as I apply them, can also be mapped in relation to Funk and James's (2001) continuum, with the musical level covering the first two floors (awareness, attraction) and the fan cultural level ranging from floor two to floor four (attraction, attachment, allegiance).
3. Data and methods
[3.1] This study is based on thematic interviews conducted in 2021 with fifteen self-identified Finnish music fans aged seven to eleven years (table 1). Seven participants were girls, and eight were boys. Their fan objects, as described by the interviewees themselves, encompassed both individual artists and specific music genres. In the latter case, fannish interest was directed primarily toward the music style in general, although this did not exclude personal artist-related preferences or taste hierarchies within the given genre. Overall, the interviewees' fan objects covered various popular music styles and included both local and international idols. Fan objects from outside the field of popular music were not mentioned. It is also noteworthy that children's music artists were almost entirely absent: Only one interviewee, Ella, named a children's music artist as her idol. This absence may be attributed to the interviewees having already grown out of the genre, as well as to the decreasing media exposure of the Finnish children's music scene in recent years. Two interviewees, Anna and Veera, did not name any individual artist or genre as an object of fandom and referred to personally appealing musical features instead ("peaceful music" and music that "builds up," respectively). To enhance the anonymity of the interviewees, no individual idols are specified in the text.
Table 1. Interviewees
| Name (Pseudonym) | Age | Gender | Fan Object(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aada | 8 | Female | Female pop artist |
| Anna | 7 | Female | No specified artist/genre |
| Anton | 10 | Male | Rap (genre fandom) |
| Eemeli | 7 | Male | Female pop artist; rock band |
| Elias | 11 | Male | Male pop artist; metal band |
| Ella | 8 | Female | Children's music band; rock band |
| Julia | 9 | Female | Male pop artist |
| Leevi | 10 | Male | Rap (genre fandom) |
| Leo | 11 | Male | Rock 'n' roll (genre fandom) |
| Lukas | 11 | Male | Pop (genre fandom); EDM (genre fandom) |
| Oliver | 11 | Male | Rap (genre fandom) |
| Olivia | 8 | Female | Male EDM artist; movie-related music videos |
| Rasmus | 10 | Male | Female pop artist; two female rap artists |
| Sofia | 9 | Female | Metal band |
| Veera | 10 | Female | No specified artist/genre |
[3.2] The interviews were conducted using remote video connection. The original plan was to interview the children at their homes, which would have enabled observation of the material setting of their fandom in the domestic context. However, the COVID-19 pandemic forced me to abandon this plan. The children were interviewed individually, except for one group interview including three people. Due to the young age of the target group, the interviewees were offered the possibility to participate in the interviews while accompanied by a parent. In the end, a parent was present in four interviews. The parents were not addressed or inquired after, with the focus being on the children as informants and experts in their own experiences.
[3.3] The interviewees were recruited by sharing an interview request on various online platforms, mostly on social media. The request was directed to the parents of "music fans" and "enthusiastic music consumers" under twelve years old. Parent-targeted recruitment was selected for reasons both ethical (in Finland, the participation of a child under fifteen years old requires consent from the parent/guardian) and practical (younger children are limitedly reachable via online platforms). The parents and the children were informed about the aims and execution of the research in an age-appropriate way. Informed consent was obtained from both parties prior to the interviews. The research plan and the main research documents were reviewed in advance by the Ethics Committee of Youth and Childhood Studies in Finland.
[3.4] As the interviewees were recruited primarily through their parents, the typical process of participation in the research involved a preliminary identification of the child as a fan by the parent. To ensure that the children shared this identification and had an adequate conceptual understanding, the concepts of fandom and being a fan were discussed in an age-appropriate manner in both the information letter and at the beginning of each interview. In most cases, the children's narratives indicated regular, active, and emotionally intense consumption of fan texts, which is typically considered a defining aspect of media fandom (Sandvoss 2005). This was evident in both their descriptions of personal affection and their engagement in specific fan practices (e.g., gathering fan knowledge, owning fan merchandise, or imitating their idol's style). Generally, the interviewees' engagement with fan objects can be categorized as "ordinary fandom," as defined by Sandvoss and Kearns (2014). This type of fandom is centered on fans' "bond with, and affective attachment to, their fan object" (97) rather than on textual production or fan cultural networking. However, Anna and Veera, who exhibited less focused media usage, presented a more ambiguous case, as their media practices often aligned more closely with the characteristics of nonfannish media use. Therefore, a more detailed analysis of their music consumption was left for future research.
[3.5] The interviews explored the aspects of children's music fandom from multiple perspectives, including musical preferences, everyday music consumption, fan practices, and the familial and peer group–related aspects of fandom. The interview data were analyzed qualitatively using directed content analysis. In directed content analysis, the data are thematized by deriving codes from both previous research and the data (Hsieh and Shannon 2005). The benefit of this approach is that it enables utilizing existing theory to deepen the analysis while also keeping the analytical process open to findings that have fallen outside the scope of prior research (Hsieh and Shannon 2005).
4. Creating grounds for fandom: The role of home and familial interaction
[4.1] The home and the familial interaction taking place within its sphere constitute an important basis for what Young (2009, 695) calls "musical childhood." Domestic musical activities are an essential element in the construction of children's musical identity, agency, and attributes, as well as in the development of their relationship with different music cultures (Borthwick and Davidson 2002; Campbell 2011, 2015; Davis 2015; Lum 2008; Tan 2014; Young 2009). Along with media, formal education, and the gradually increasing influence of peer relations, these activities establish the primary sociocultural frame for children's musical enculturation (Campbell 2011, 2015; Mapana 2012; Tan 2014). As such, the childhood home and family construct an important social venue for early musical affections and emerging fandoms.
[4.2] The data strongly support the argument about the crucial role of the home and familial interaction in the development of a child's musical awareness and activity. The interviewees described the home as the most common environment for their personal music consumption. Moreover, the home appeared as a source of various external musical influences, forming a space in which other family members constantly listened to music as well. In some cases, music took over the home in the form of family members' musical hobbies (e.g., playing an instrument). The continuous presence of music as part of the domestic soundscape was particularly evident in the case of Leo (eleven years old), who stated that "it's never silent in our home."
[4.3] In the interviewees' households, music was also consumed collectively with other family members. This could happen, for example, when cleaning the house, dining, or watching musical television shows together. Two interviewees mentioned that "jukebox juries" (gatherings in which participants bring their favorite songs to listen to) had been organized within their families. Similar moments of collective music consumption also took place during car rides, which formed a kind of mobile extension to the musical environment of the home.
[4.4] Overall, the home often forms a fertile and supportive setting for early fan enculturation on both musical and fan cultural levels. Whereas popular music and the fan phenomena related to it were once associated with generational tension and revolt (Kotarba and Vannini 2009; Laughey 2006), the atmosphere within the interviewees' families appeared quite the opposite. Along with the cultural legitimation of fandom, this contrast may reflect differences in the social meanings of fandom between childhood and youth as stages of life, with the latter being more closely associated with generational distinction-making. In any case, the children generally perceived popular music as a natural part of domestic and familial everyday life. Several interviewees also referred to emotional support and understanding shown by their parents in relation to their musical preferences and fandoms, as in this example, from Oliver (eleven): "My parents of course know that I listen to a lot of rap music since I've listened to it often through the speakers. It's okay for them, of course. They are happy that I have my own musical taste…my own thing." As Hills (2002) presents, this kind of supportive family environment may form an important element in the development of a child's fan relationship and fan identity.
[4.5] The importance of the "home musical environment" (Lum 2008, 101) for early fan enculturation was particularly obvious where the musical activities of family members had functioned as a spark for the child's musical affection:
[4.6] JP: How did you get into, and become a fan of, [your favorite music]?
Leo (eleven): Well, I play piano…And it's just that my father listens to various styles of music in the car and at home every day—that's how I learned to listen to it.
[4.7] In all, three interviewees named their parents' musical taste and music consumption as the spark for their fandom. Siblings were also brought up as significant parties in the enculturation process. These findings resonate with Lum's (2008, 108) notion about how constant exposure to music selected by other family members often leads to the child becoming "familiar with these musical sounds" and "assimilating" them into their musical repertoire.
[4.8] Although the intergenerational dynamics of fan culture and enculturation are typically discussed from the perspective of parents influencing their children's fandom, this cultural exchange should not be considered unilateral. The data also contain explicit references to musical influences moving in the opposite direction, from the child to the parent. In the following cases, this meant introducing the children's favorite music to their parents:
[4.9] Elias (eleven): My sister and I, we have very similar musical tastes. And usually, we manage to make our mother like it, too…Sometimes, when Mother goes jogging…she might ask if I have any good music for jogging in mind.
Rasmus (ten): I once played a song [by my idol] to [my mother], and the next day, she was already listening to it a lot.
[4.10] Such narratives underline the multidirectional nature of intergenerational influences in the formation of musical taste and identity (see also Borthwick and Davidson [2002]; Ekström [2007]; Kotarba and Vannini [2009]), as well as the reciprocity of musical enculturation in general. In the context of consumer studies, this kind of reciprocity has been discussed as "reverse socialization," referring to "parents learning about consumption from their children" (Ekström 2007, 203). The concept is also relevant here in that it calls for greater attention to children's active agency within the fan enculturation process.
5. Frames of fandom: Parental facilitation and children's agency
[5.1] Parents often play a major part in children's consumption, providing (or not providing) them with the needed economic resources (Buckingham 2011). As Buckingham notes, parents appear in children's consumer culture "as providers, enablers, regulators, [and] gatekeepers" (144). This is also true in relation to fan cultural consumption. The data indicate that, in addition to offering musical influences and creating an emotionally supportive atmosphere, parents act as facilitators of children's fan enculturation and fan relationships, enabling economic and material frames for practicing fandom. This can mean, for example, buying fan clothing, fandom-related toys, or concert tickets for the children. This facilitating role was particularly apparent in the interview with Ella (eight), a fan of a Finnish children's music band:
[5.2] JP: You showed me the [fandom-related] stuffed animals and collectible cards. Do you have, for example, band shirts or posters?
Ella: I also have a poster [of the band], shirts and hoodies, a writing pad, duvet covers…
Parent [commenting from the background]: As the only child, she gets everything [she asks for].
[5.3] In several cases, the facilitating role of parents included accompanying the children to concerts or gigs, as in the case of Julia (nine). Here, facilitating also involved acting as the "eyes and ears" for the child in fandom-related matters—a form of support that is made even more valuable by the fact that most children do not regularly follow media publicity around their idols (Poikolainen 2021):
[5.4] JP: Have you ever been to [your idol's] gig or concert?
Julia: Once…
JP: With whom did you go?
Julia: With Mom.
JP: Okay. Whose idea was it to go?
Julia: I guess my mom had read from somewhere that there's a gig coming.
[5.5] In general, attending concerts is a relatively rare fan activity within this age group (Poikolainen 2021), limited by factors such as venue age restrictions and late showtimes. (The absence of children's music artists as fan objects is particularly evident in this context, as these limitations do not apply to children's music concerts.) Nevertheless, for those who have a chance to attend, concerts offer a forum to experience "the excitement of participation, the feeling of connection with [the idol]…the rituals, the energy, the empowerment, the communal feeling" (Cavicchi 1998, 37). In recent research on football fandom, attending live events has been found to enhance fan enculturation and engagement in an important way, particularly when the spectacle is experienced for the first time (Pfister et al. 2018).
[5.6] However, the most important way in which parents facilitate their children's fan enculturation and fan practices appears to be providing the child with the technological infrastructure needed for fan cultural media consumption. According to the data, this means, above all, smartphone and relevant mobile services. Even though the interviewees consumed fandom-related content via multiple electronic mediums, smartphones were the primary technology for their fandom. This is not surprising considering that Finnish children start using mobile technology early on, and most own a smartphone by the time they begin school at the age of seven (Merikivi et al. 2019).
[5.7] For the interviewees, fandom-related phone use primarily involved consuming music via Spotify or YouTube. These platforms offer children a vast selection of musical content, enabling them to deepen their relationship with chosen musical phenomena—that is, to move from awareness of various genres and artists and the formation of preliminary preferences toward a more fannish attachment and allegiance characterized by a deeper personal connection and devotion (Funk and James 2001). This process was illustratively verbalized by Leo (eleven), who referred to getting his first phone as an essential step in discovering "the world of music" and eventually constructing a committed fan relationship:
[5.8] JP: How long have you been into this kind of music? Can you say? How long has it been your favorite?
Leo: About since when I got my first phone…Or maybe a couple of years before that.
JP: Do you remember how old you were, approximately?
Leo: Five or six. When that world opened up for me. The world of music.
[5.9] Phones, along with other mobile media devices, are important due to the musical and fan cultural agency they enable for children. Smartphones have been described as "a gateway to one's own space" (Merikivi et al. 2019, 98), referring to private or socially restricted media environments provided by individually consumed mobile technology and nonshareable interfaces. For children, these environments offer a forum in which they can explore fan texts and cultivate their fandom in a self-initiated way. As argued above, material frames of fandom, as well as various out-of-home events, are seldom at the reach of children without parental facilitation. The online realm of fandom, however, offers children an opportunity to adopt a more autonomous role in the fan enculturation process, an opportunity that is enhanced by their rather independent use of digital services.
[5.10] Davis (2015) underlines the meaning of the independence and agency provided by digital technology. According to Davis, the "ease with which children can search the internet and research their musical interests promotes autonomy, discrimination, and self-discovery of their musical tastes" (273). The aspects of musical self-discovery and self-initiated gatherings of related cultural capital—sometimes referred to as musical self-socialization (Davis 2015)—were brought up in the interviews as well. Several interviewees described how they had deepened their musical knowledge and fan relationships by exploring streaming apps, browsing idols' social media content, or searching for biographical information and artist photos online. However, the regularity and intensity of such activities varied significantly between individuals. Furthermore, interest in familiarizing oneself with and gathering this kind of fan cultural content seems to be related to age (Poikolainen 2021), increasing and deepening toward the older end of the age range, as illustrated by the following examples:
[5.11] Olivia (eight): Sometimes I searched for their photos for fun. Because [my idol] usually wears a mask in the photos. Only his eyes are visible. That's why I have used Google to find photos in which he would show his face.
Anton (ten): Almost all of [my favorite rappers] have a criminal background. So, I may do in-depth research on them. I may spend hours tracking down their histories.
JP: The troubled background interests you?
Anton: Yes. The songs may have real incidents in the background. I investigate it.
[5.12] From the perspective of fan enculturation, possessing this kind of fan knowledge also has important social functions, providing a basis for communal fan talk (Jenkins 1992) and underpinning one's position within fan communities' hierarchies of expertise (Cavicchi 1998).
[5.13] Children's emerging fan cultural agency may also extend beyond listening, watching, and reading, manifesting itself in creative fan practices. This may include, for example, dancing along with the music, integrating aspects of fandom into play, playing cover versions of favorite songs, or even creating their own music with stylistic resemblance to idols' repertoire—all of the activities brought out in the interviews. It is also important to recognize the productive agency these fan practices indicate. They show how children recycle, appropriate, and reformulate elements from mainstream music culture, using them in construction of their own musical culture.
6. Intergenerational fandom: Shared passion and fannish family practices
[6.1] The intergenerational dimension of children's music fandom and fan enculturation reaches its most evident form in cases in which fandom is shared between children and their parents (Bacon-Smith 2000; Hunting 2019; Kotarba and Vannini 2009; Riddell 2021; Smith 2012). In these instances, the facilitating and providing role of parents is complemented by another role: that of a fan cultural partnership and, potentially, mentorship (Jenkins 2019). According to a Finnish study conducted in 2020, this kind of sharing is relatively—if not surprisingly—common: 47 percent of Finns aged seven to nine who identified themselves as music fans said that they share the fandom of their idol with at least one parent (Poikolainen 2021). This kind of intergenerational sharing was linked particularly to childhood, being less common among older fans. The interview data indicated that family-based networks of intergenerational fandom may also exceed the limits of a nuclear family and include more distant family members or close family friends, such as aunts and uncles, cousins, or godparents.
[6.2] The interviews implied that intergenerationally shared fan relationships are often constructed through top-down enculturation processes, with children growing (or being actively encouraged) into the fandom of their parents (Johnson 2019; Smith 2012). This kind of intergenerational transmission was particularly evident in the case of Sofia (nine):
[6.3] JP: Do you remember how you got to know the music of [your favorite band]? How did you become a fan of it?
Sofia: Because my daddy listens to it!
JP: Okay. Is your dad a fan, too?
Sofia: Well, yes.
[6.4] In this sense, the findings support Hills's (2002) argument on the continuity of fandom within the family. According to Hills, "Family is one persistently privileged social grouping which can act to shape and organize the contingencies of the child's early (and continuing) object relationships, particularly where the cult text is encountered initially in the private sphere" (163). In these contexts, music fandom may become what popular music scholar Nicola Smith (2012) calls "age-fluid inherited subcultural capital" (166)—that is, scene-specific cultural knowledge that is passed along from parent to child within a mutual fan cultural frame. The knowledge may be accompanied by physical "cultural heirlooms" (166), such as records or other fan artifacts. Similar elements of intergenerational transmission have been observed within sports (Allison and Pope 2022; Farrell et al. 2011; Hyatt et al. 2018; Pfister et al. 2018; Thomson and Williams 2014), science fiction (Bacon-Smith 2000), and comics (Johnson 2019) fandoms.
[6.5] Along with the initial becoming-a-fan phase, the intergenerational transmission of subcultural capital can provide a foundation for further stages of enculturation by supporting the long-term cultivation of a child's fan relationship (Riddell 2021). These processes are actively facilitated by contemporary media industries, which promote parental sharing of fandom "to reproduce patterns and practices of consumption into the future" (Johnson 2019, 54). However, as indicated above, the intergenerational flow of fan cultural influences within the family should not be considered merely unidirectional, as it may also include child-to-parent influences. For example, Rasmus, a ten-year-old pop music fan, referred to his musical recommendations as an important factor in the recent emergence of his mother's fandom for the same music.
[6.6] Besides mutual fandoms, the children reported that their family members had their own fan objects that were not shared by the interviewees themselves. This could result in an interesting combination of parallel but differently focused fandoms. For example, rap fan Oliver (eleven) said that his parents are into metal and rock and mostly dislike rap on a personal level. Nevertheless, the family members shared mutual respect for each other's fandoms. This setting bears similarities to sports fan families in which individual family members identify with different teams (Hyatt et al. 2018; Thomson and Williams 2014). In such cases, the aspect of mutuality is most likely slightly weaker in comparison to sharing specific fan objects. However, the individual fandoms of other family members may still have an important encouraging effect on a child's or a parent's fan enculturation, offering cultural models for practicing fandom (Hyatt et al. 2018; Pfister et al. 2018) and developing fan cultural literacies (Jenkins 2019). In prior research, such examples provided by "influential others" have been seen as an essential part of the enculturation process (Mapana 2012; Weinreich 2009).
[6.7] To sum up, shared fandoms and parallel fan activities form an influential framework for intergenerational fan enculturation. They provide family members of different generations with opportunities to develop their personal fan relationships and identities and to experience the social aspects of fandom in a supportive, safe, and (sub)culturally educative context. In families that actively participate in fan culture, the dynamics between music fandom and family also operate in reverse, with fandom strengthening and enriching the family culture. This way, fandom may evolve into an important part of familial communality and, eventually, family identity:
[6.8] Rasmus (ten): We have CDs, cassettes, and vinyl. We have lots of them since our family is a fan family [italics added by JP].
JP: Do you often listen to music together?
Rasmus: Well, when we, for instance, eat together, we often listen to music.
JP: What kind of music do you usually listen to?
Rasmus: We usually go through our collection, so it depends. Sometimes it's rap, sometimes black metal, sometimes pop.
[6.9] In the most active fan families, music fandom seems to reach a point at which it becomes what Morgan (2011, 1) calls "family practice." By this, Morgan refers to practices, regular and everyday by nature, through which family members "do" family. The practice-oriented approach turns attention from family as a structural unit to which one belongs, or which one simply has, toward the perception of the family as a process-like social activity. In the context of fan families, this approach helps to recognize that fan enculturation is not only about becoming attracted to certain cultural content or joining a community of like-minded enthusiasts but also about belonging to the family, tied together by fan activities. As Davis (2015, 270) points out, for many children, "listening to music their parents enjoy helps them feel connected." At the same time, research on sports fandom has located similar intrafamilial motives for shared fandom and fan enculturation among parents (Allison and Pope 2022; Hyatt et al. 2018).
7. Conclusion
[7.1] The emergence and further development of children's music fandom are often strongly connected to intergenerational family dynamics, with the childhood home and familial interactions providing an influential framework for early fan enculturation. This connection is particularly evident in families characterized by active music consumption and an appreciative attitude toward popular culture. In the data, parents appeared as cultural influencers and facilitators whose influence on and support for children's fandom manifested at various levels, including cultural (offering models for consuming media and reading fan cultural texts), material (providing access to fan cultural content), and normative (licensing fannish tastes). As such, the role of parental influence and family culture in early fan enculturation often appears to exceed that of peers, especially in the case of younger children (see also Poikolainen [2021]). However, the impact of intergenerational interaction and family context should not be understood as directly causative, as the emergence and cultivation of a fan relationship are also strongly dependent on the child's own interests and agency. In addition, the findings indicate that music fandom may evolve into an intergenerational family practice shared by both the child(ren) and the parent(s). In this context, intergenerational family relations become a forum for fan cultural partnerships and the sharing of fandom-related subcultural capital. Finally, this study indicates that fan enculturation should be understood as a bidirectional phenomenon, as children may also contribute to the emergence and cultivation of their parents' fandoms.
[7.2] As a mostly unstudied topic, children's music fandom opens a novel view on the changing age structure and social dynamics of contemporary fan cultures. From a broader perspective, children's fandom and intergenerational fan activities can be interpreted as manifestations of more profound changes in the meanings of age—that is, the recent loosening of cultural norms and conventions concerning age, life course, and age-related role transitions. This phenomenon has been noted within fan studies as well, though primarily in the context of aging fans (Hills 2019a). The increasing presence and agency of children within popular music fan culture, enabled to unprecedented levels by the digitalization of childhood's media landscape, offer a view of this cultural change from the opposite end of the age spectrum. The phenomenon itself has caused frequent concern among parents, educators, and scholars about the "erosion" or even "disappearance" of childhood (Levin 2013, 80, 104). However, I suggest that the loosening of age-related norms can be considered from a more positive perspective as a process that opens new possibilities for intergenerational connecting and communality.
[7.3] The present study naturally has its limitations. First, its perspective is limited by its relatively small sample size. Second, the interview method presented challenges in relation to younger participants. For them, communicating experiences of fandom through this type of interaction, which is built on an adult-initiated way of perceiving and classifying social reality, proved difficult at times. In the future, children's fandom should be studied using more comprehensive data and more child-initiated methods of data collection. Third, the data did not allow for consideration of the potential influences of socioeconomic, cultural, or ethnic background in shaping fan identities and activities. To more accurately identify diversity (and potential inequality) in children's fandom and intergenerational fan enculturation, future research should examine these factors more thoroughly.
[7.4] Children's fandom should also be integrated more tightly into the growing academic discussion on fandom and life course. This includes the question about the potential impact of early fan enculturation on fannish activity and fan identity in later life. However, expanding the scope of fan studies to include child audiences requires a reconsideration of how fandom is defined (Hunting 2019), as the traditional focus on communally active and textually productive fan collectives tends to exclude the "ordinary fandom" (Sandvoss and Kearns 2014, 92) that is typical of children. In this sense, pursuing more nuanced perceptions of fandom is essential to keeping pace with ongoing changes in fan cultures and audiences.
8. Acknowledgment
[8.1] This work was supported by the Kone Foundation.