Michael Abels discusses diversity regression at 2025 WSA Film Music Days

USC Thornton alumnus and founder Michael Abels (‘84), Sandro Morales-Santoro and Amritha Vaz of Composers Diversity Collective (CDC) spoke at a panel at the Music Days at Film Fest Gent. Winners of the World Soundtrack Awards Industry Award, which recognizes meaningful contribution in the film music industry, the CDC aims to overcome barriers of cultural diversity for music creators and supervisors, sound engineers and musicians.

At the panel, the trio discussed the POC-felt regression in music diversity this past year.

“It seemed to me that in the last 10 years there has been a lot of opportunity for stories outside of the mainstream to get told,” said Abels. “Now we’ve seen the culture shifting. I don’t think as many projects are getting greenlit. It’s not just about the composing community. It’s a way of saying, if not overtly, that diversity and inclusion is not as important as we thought it was 10 years ago. That’s really frustrating and sad.”

Read more about the discussion here.

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Photo courtesy of Martin Corlazzoli (Variety)