一九八○年代末，獨立廠牌開創出的「世界音樂」商品在全球音樂市場展現商業潛力，各唱片公司紛紛以推廣不同地區、民族的音樂為號召，發行各種田野採集錄音、在地樂人創作，或民族風跨界作品。此類產品雖然對推廣各民族音樂文化、促進國際交流有所貢獻，但在商業考量下，部分推案製作透過跨界融合的手法、甚至改造一地區的傳統音樂以吸引聽眾，導致唱片市場中的「世界音樂」標籤一度被學術界視為「負面評價」標籤。本文試圖以唱片工業的角度出發，說明唱片業的「世界音樂」所呈現的，是創作者或製作人因應聽眾聆聽音樂態度的改變，透過新媒體與數位技術，靈活運用音樂素材所創造的產品，這與歷史上異族、異域間音樂交流、融合發展出新樂種的過程類似。雖然此一類型的產品不見得皆能通過時間考驗，匯集成一派並傳遞下去成為「傳統」，但「世界音樂」的製作確實帶動了豐富多元的音樂交流活動，並加速音樂融合過程。

Since ‘world music’, a product category created by independent record labels, showed its commercial potential in the global music market in the late 1980s, record companies have been releasing a range of field recordings, works of indigenous musicians or ethnic crossover music, in the name of promoting music from different corners. Those releases may have contributed to understanding and introducing music from different cultures, but in some products, traditional music is appropriated and modified to appeal to a wider audience, so much so that ‘world music’ was once regarded as a controversial category by some academics. From the view of the record industry, the present paper argues that ‘world music’ is the production by composers or producers employing various musical materials and new technology, in response to the change of the audience’s attitudes towards music listening. This is similar to how new genres or styles were developed through musical exchanges between different regions or nations in history. Works of ‘world music’ may not all be passed down through generations to form a time-honoured musical tradition in the future, but the production indeed facilitates musical exchanges and integration at the present.