What is world music?

The term ‘word music’ can be interpreted in various different ways, for example we see ‘world music’ sections in our music stores such as HMV, if we think about it this may be seen as wrong or somewhat pointless as this section of the stores is nothing like the other music sections in the store due to the fact it is not defined by its genre but by its origin. We tend to see ‘world music’ as local music that is popular amongst a society in a country such as Salsa music to Latin-American people would be considered world music to us but local to Latin-American people, however a artists like ‘Shakira’ who are of a Latin-American origin but produce what is labelled as ‘Pop’, is considered global music as it is popular amongst a worldwide community. In my opinion the term ‘World Music’ is wrong as it has become a general marketing term for non-western music of all genres.