Music of the World was formed in New York in the early 80s by Bob Haddad to promote and produce musicians from diverse traditional backgrounds. The company began by presenting ethnic musicians in concert, and by recording high quality cassettes which were used for promotional purposes and sold at performances.

During these early years, and before a commercial consciousness of "world music" had developed, Music of the World was the only world music-based cassette label available in the West. Its catalog rapidly expanded to include artists from Africa, India, Latin America, and in addition to opening accounts with major retailers across the USA, the company was exporting its recordings overseas. In 1989, Haddad relocated the label from Brooklyn, NY to Chapel Hill, North Carolina. It was here where the label would see unprecedented growth. In that same year, the first two CDs were released on the Music of the World label. Over the next ten years, almost 90 more CD titles were released, and distribution grew to include 19 countries worldwide.

The mid-90s were peak years for the label, and were marked by the commercial success of several recordings, including the award-winning "Vintage Beausoleil" (Michael Doucet and BeauSoleil; The Grammy-nominated "Raga Aberi" (with L. Shankar, Zakir Hussain and Vikku Vinayakram; and one of the label's best selling recordings, "Talking Spirits" (various Native American artists). In addition to the premier Music of the World (MOW) label, two label imprints were born during this period of growth. Nomad Records features modern world music and world jazz, and Latitudes is a mid-price label featuring single-artist releases and compilations of traditional world music.

In 2000, Music of the World was acquired by digital download leader emusic.com, and the entire MOW catalog is now available exclusively for downloading through www.EMusic.com, which is now a division of Universal. Currently, physical copies of Music of the World, Nomad and Latitudes CDs are no longer available for purchase, except through the non-profit organization World Music Institute, at www.HearTheWorld.org. It is hoped that Universal will re-release the Music of the World catalog at some point in the near future.

 
Bob Haddad, President and founder of Music of the World, has been active in music and music production since the late 70s. He has performed and taught professionally, made field recordings in various countries, and has written extensively on world music and culture. He owns Owl's Head Music (BMI), a music publishing company dedicated to world music, and acts as music consultant to various businesses and educational organizations. He can be reached at bhaddad@mindspring.com.