What the Music Industry Can Learn from Sports About Fans

In both music and sports, emotion is the currency. Fans don’t just buy tickets; they buy belonging.

In both music and sports, emotion is the currency. Fans don’t just buy tickets; they buy belonging. But while both industries sell passion, sports has become the undisputed leader in understanding, measuring and monetizing it.

American football has a name for its most devoted believers: the 12th Man, as in the crowd is an extra “player” capable of shifting momentum and influencing outcomes. Music has its own version: the 5th Member. Traditionally, that meant a manager or producer behind the scenes. Today, it increasingly describes the fans who line up at dawn for pit access, travel across states for multiple shows and keep communities alive between tours.

Music isn’t sports and it shouldn’t be. Artists aren’t franchises engineered for commercialization; they’re creative worlds fans choose to enter. But that’s precisely why sports offers useful lessons. Not to industrialize fandom, but to help artists build stronger relationships with those who sustain them. Technology now makes that possible at scale. Here’s what music can learn.

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Rolling Stone / Geoff Robins