But the question was how to make money - before it became an "exhibitionist sport" nobody made money from it. However much fun it was. Or is.

If you want people to pay good money, or lots of people to pay a little each but it all adds up, you have to give them quality. Amateurs may be enjoying themselves, good for them, but if the public can get music free why pay? In any way of life, if you want to make money you have to offer something that people want, that they can't get elsewhere. And if folk music becomes too associated with amateurs then just plain ordinary non-music playing people will be put off. If you don't think that's true, just ask some of your non-folkie friends about the image of folk music: especially ask the young ones.

Now which will keep the music more alive: giving elbow room to a few extra amateurs or to high quality professionals with a mass audience? If folk can regain a mass audience it will recruit a new generation of enthusiasts and get new faces coming in as artists too. But no, I don't have any recipe for achieving that.