The problem is that 'collecting', is pretty much an ego trip with people wanting their names associated with a 'collection'.   Fine if you are going back in time to the earlier part of the last century with the material collected.. but today collectors and even organisations like ITMA are tampering with, and damaging copyright.   In the UK there are clear copyright laws, and most works are either already recorded or noted to be in copyright (life plus 70 years after the death of the author/composer). Just because a generation down someone has forgotten the writer of a song they are singing, and was taught the song from someone else, does not mean that the song itself is without paternity or copyright.   Field recordings of modern age songs create misunderstandings over their status and origins.. Many stories that people pass on about the origins of modern age songs are often rubbish.