"the whole thing looks a bit like a rip off of a concept that is already getting tired under the weight of the number of other rip-offs."

Nothing like that in traditional folk song of course...

In fact that's one of the points of YouTube (or twitter, facebook etc.) as far as I can see, it's a transmitter for viral folk activity - by folk activity I mean simply what people do for themselves rather than what they are sold. As a medium of transmission for such activity it's no less valid than the oral one was. It just works more quickly.