(Can you tell I'm not enjoying editing all my dammed interviews about the End of the World?)

Hi Ralph

"everything will become traditional one day. We're just arguing about the length of time."

Yeeees, I'd say anything that's good enough to be remembered stands a chance of becoming traditional. But new works are not just remembered, they're recorded and broadcast to millions and this can affect the remembering process.

In the Olden Days we had a very slow process which didn't involve a lot of paper (though the paper was very important and shouldn't be overlooked - as shouldn't other factors like 'Song Shakespears's and court musicians), but did involve a lot of remembering and mis-hearing and mis-remebering and accidental and on purpose reinvention.

These processes do still go on, as your story proves, but they're kinda crucially different because of the way the world is now compared with how it was in the 19th C and before.

So those who make a distinction between 'The (Old) Tradition' and a/some 'new tradition/s' are right to do so imo.