Multiple and shifting geographies of world music production

Taking European world music charts since 1991 as a surrogate measure of the salience of global economic and geographical linkages in world music production, our paper offers an in-depth analysis into the clustered and transnational dynamics therein. We substantiate the claim that the valorisation of commodified musical content has traditionally been removed from its place of origin and centred on metropolitan areas in Western Europe and the USA. However, the paper suggests a growing diversification in the geography of production, with the emergence of secondary centres with an international and national orientation. It also offers promising avenues for further research into the positionality of cultural mediation and the increasing prominence of hybrid musical output.