Fandom’s Remix

Abstract

Environmentalists rarely talk about popular culture, associating it more with the excesses of “throwaway living” than with sustainability's custodial sensibilities. There is some truth to this skepticism. However, that doesn't mean that the popular can never be associated with sustainable living. This chapter explores the complexities of fan culture, which resituates capitalist consumption to sustain other kinds of meaningful connection and attachment. Through collecting and tourism, fans extend musical encounter; with concert-going and narrative, fans create communal sensibility. Combined with participatory media practices that provide alternatives to the established music business, fandom reframes popular culture's potential in sustainability debates.