Guide to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Music Industry

Guide to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Music Industry provides a critical and timely examination of how identity, history, and power shape the structures and narratives of the American music landscape. Through the lens of race, gender, sexuality, disability, socioeconomic status, and more, this volume explores how music is created, marketed, and consumed within a system that often reflects and reinforces systemic inequities. Contributors from diverse communities, including African American, Hispanic/Latino, Indigenous, Asian, LGBTQ+, women, disabled, and religious groups, offer historical context, cultural insight, and forward-looking analysis. Bridging cultural theory with real-world industry practices, the book highlights issues such as the criminalization of rap, inequitable label contracts, and barriers to access. It also offers practical strategies for more inclusive and equitable approaches. Grounded in both scholarship and lived experience, this essential resource challenges dominant narratives and equips students, educators, artists, and professionals with tools to understand and transform the music industry.