The Cultural Politics of World Music Marketing: Nigerian Artists in Global Music Festivals and International Media Representation

This research critically examines the cultural politics of how Nigerian music artists are marketed, positioned, and represented within global world music industry frameworks, focusing on international festival programming, record label categorisation, and media representation in European and North American markets. The 'world music' category, despite contested cultural politics, continues to shape how music from African countries is packaged, presented, and consumed in global northern markets. This study investigates how Nigerian artists navigate, resist, and are constrained by world music marketing frameworks, examining the agency, self-representation strategies, and commercial trade-offs involved in pursuing international market success. A multi-sited ethnographic design is employed, incorporating observation at three major international music festivals, interviews with 20 Nigerian artists who have performed internationally, 15 international music industry figures including booking agents and festival curators, and 10 music journalists. Critical discourse analysis is applied to international media coverage of Nigerian music in major platforms between 2019 and 2024. The study draws on postcolonial cultural studies, world music industry scholarship, and critical race theory applied to music markets. Findings will develop an original critical framework for understanding the cultural politics of African music's global commodification and the terms of Nigerian artists' international market participation. Keywords: World music, cultural politics, Nigerian artists, international music market, postcolonial representation.