In the late 1980s, Western record companies were having difficulty categorizing non-Western music such as Latin American and African music. The phrase "world music" was coined as industry leaders met to find a marketing category for such types of music.
因為「世界音樂」這個名詞，事實上是 1980 年代末，西方唱片公司為了替在唱片行裡無法被歸類上架的拉丁美洲與非洲等「非西方」音樂找尋出路，經由會議討論，共同創造出來的行銷分類。