Ethnic Composer Representation in Western Classical Music Across Live Concerts, Radio, and Streaming Services in America: A Quantitative Comparative Analysis

There has existed for decades within the United States and without to increase the cultural diversity of the Western classical music community, a traditionally white-dominated space. One way music performers and distributors have worked towards this has been through increasing the exposure received by composers of marginalized ethnicities (“ethnic composers”) using deliberate music curation practices. However, varying modes of music distribution may possess differing curational practices. This study utilizes a quantitative comparative analysis with randomized sampling to examine the quantity of ethnic composer representation across three modes of music distribution – live concerts, radio platforms, and streaming services – between the 2023-2024 orchestra performance season and the modern day. First, the study compared the quantity of overall ethnic composer representation across the three modes; then, it explored discrepancies in the representation received by individual ethnic groups across modes. The study finds that live concerts are superior to streaming services, which are marginally superior to radio platforms, at enabling overall ethnic composer representation. Unexpectedly, the exposure received by individual ethnic groups varied widely across modes, with streaming services being conducive to East Asian representation and radio platforms being conducive to Latinx representation.