Eleanor Sinnott
My final project explores how fanbases respond when artists cross genre boundaries, and whether these shifts can influence fans to engage with new genres themselves.
Genre has traditionally shaped how music is categorised and consumed. However, over the last couple of years artists have increasingly been challenging these genre boundaries, raising new questions about fans' appreciation for these changes and their loyalty to genre.
This thesis explores how genre-switching impacts the fans of artists who take these risks, and whether such changes lead these fans to engage with new genres. The study uses survey data collected from fans of Beyoncé and Radiohead. A combination of multiple-choice and open-ended questions was used to capture both trends in fan behaviours and personal interpretations of genre-switching.
The results of these surveys suggest that genre-switching generally strengthens fan relationships to artists. Radiohead fans associated the exploration of genres with innovation, while Beyoncé fans viewed it as an act of cultural representation and reclamation. The listening habits of the two fanbases varied, with some fans exploring these new genres and others remaining focused on the artist.
This research contributes to a broader discussion in music studies by highlighting how fans interpret genre not only musically but culturally. It has become clear through this research how artist identity shapes audience engagement. In this era of increasing genre fluidity, the relationship between artists and their audiences is shaped not just by sound, but by trust, identity, and cultural meaning.
Hi! I'm Eleanor, I'm 22 and based in Dublin. I've had a deep love for music since I was a kid. Over the past four years in this course, my interests in the music industry have evolved — from mixing, to live sound engineering, to now wanting to work at a label or working with artists somewhere behind the scenes. This course has helped me discover what aspects of the industry truly excite me — and which ones don’t — and now I'm looking forward to getting out there and seeing where it takes me.
