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How Music Tastes Differ Between the Rich and the Poor

Poor people may have limited music access options compared to rich people.

The wealth disparities between groups can have many wide reaching impacts you might never have considered. For example, rich people can afford more healthy food options than poor people can. Similarly, rich people can afford to live in pollution-free neighborhoods while poor people may be forced to live in polluted neighborhoods.

You might be shocked to learn that your level of wealth can also impact your music taste. This may sound strange because music taste is more of a personal preference. After all, rich and poor people with a Spotify subscription would still have access to the same music. So how would their music taste differ?

In this guide, we will explain how and why the music tastes of rich and poor people differ.

1.     Music Access

As mentioned earlier, rich and poor people would appear to have access to the same quantity of music because most music streaming services are relatively affordable in the digital era. However, this fails to consider music access in other places.

For example, a rich person could walk into a record store and purchase two dozen records from artists they have never heard of before. By contrast a poor person might be able to afford only one or two records. This creates a discrepancy in which the rich person is able to seek out more music than the poor person can.

2.     Music Exposure

Rich and poor people also differ in terms of how they are exposed to music. A poor person might develop their music taste after listening to the radio in their family car. A rich person on the other hand may develop their music taste after being taken to pricey orchestra shows by their parents. This in-turn would likely influence each person’s music taste into adulthood.

This has been confirmed by studies that have found that America’s richest demographics tend to listen to more classical music than poorer demographics do.

3.     Education-Level

Your education level may influence what kind of music you listen to. A poor person who couldn’t afford to go to college might not have the appreciation for literature that a wealthy person who attended college or university has. This discrepancy could in-turn end up influencing their music taste.

For example, the wealthy person could develop an interest in music with rich and witty wordplay. The poor person on the other hand may prefer listening to music such as hard rock and techno that evoke more a “feeling” than display lyrical prowess.

What Your Music Taste Says About You

The music taste differences described above may hold true when you view rich and poor people as distinct groups. However, music taste can be influenced by a number of different factors. For this reason, you could very well find many poor people who like classical music and rich people who love hard rock and techno.

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