"Amateur" has some negative connotations (as another native speaker). It's often used an inferior comparison to "professional". Just search "amateur hour" to yi

"Amateur" has some negative connotations (as another native speaker). It's often used an inferior comparison to "professional". Just search "amateur hour" to yield a stream of disparanging comments. https://twitter.com/search?q=amateur%20hour&src=typed_query https://twitter.com/search?q=amateur%20hour&src=typed_query I would definitely use "enthusiast" over "amateur" (or other variants, e.g. fan, fanatic, lover, or a label that's specific to in-group members of the genre, if one exists). I'd also suggest a-b testing all the things to end the speculation.