ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the inseparabilities and fusions of the various “Worlds” as they converge within popular music. The vast majority of human beings are born not only with a capacity for speech but also for an appreciation of music; music thus forms part of humanity’s “commons.” The musicians obey the commands of a conductor, who himself—and it usually is a “he”—obeys the music of “master works” as written by an anointed genius composer. Although “World Music” has its German counterpart in the expression Weltmusick, coined by German music theorist George Capellen at the beginning of the 20th century, the term became truly popular only toward the end of the same century. The geopolitical mapping and directionalities of World Music differ significantly from those of World Literature. The corporate music world was ill-equipped, however, to deal with the explosive Web-2 “software-ization” of the arts.
