What is World Music? What is the function of it?

World music can be any music, which is produced in another country. Shuker states that ‘the common preference of listeners and record buyers for foreign-originated sounds, rather than the product of their local artists and labels, is associated with the cultural imperialism thesis.’ It is suggested that dominant countries will make products, which endorse cultural values of their origin and market them in such a way that the ‘world music’ dominates over the local indigenous music. The problem with this thesis being that world music is shown to be dominated by one or a couple of dominant nations, there is not a mix of countries who can create their own music and can say it is popular for a worldwide audience. World music should be something that is a mixture of international and national music, not just music from a dominant nation, which can be popular music for the masses.