the number of artists anyone is willing to pay for is dwindling as we get further and further away from an age when there were enough folk venues to give an incentive to develop an act with edge , skill and entertainment value

In one sense, Al, that's a true statement - but it just doesn't apply to the world of folk'ish music. Nothing stays still, and the law of supply and demand, not always coupled with hard work and ability, unfortunately, rules the roost. If you try hard to make your living from a world that's shrinking, then you have several choices - you tough it out and sink or swim in it - or you adapt and change and compromise - or you jack it in and do something else entirely different. You know this as well as I do.

I've also seen dreary sessions with bulging ringbinders and bulging, talentless performers - and I keep away from them as much as possible - but if you can't change that trend, ignore it, forget it, move on and do something else.

Look at the computerised revolution in the printing industry. The cozy world of chapels with their fathers and apprenticeships, huge wages and work for life was on the brink of massive and total change back in the days of Eddie Shah. Did the print unions see the light and acknowledge that inevitable change? No, they didn't, and their jobs were taken by unapprenticed, unqualified engineers and electricians and the journalists themselves. Their whole world changed and they were left high and dry.

You can kick against the pricks as much as you like - but it doesn't mean the pricks will go away. :-)