The general concensus seems to be that it still goes on and I couldn't agree more. The fact that methods of communicating songs has changed makes not one bit of difference. Broadside, oral or CD it's still communicated and that's enough.

I often find that when I go back to recordings from which I've 'learned' songs that they've been inadvertently changed a bit with whole verses missing sometimes to give them more narrative sense and sometimes a bit more edgy.

It was Carthy that said (not exact quote) "If we all copy each other exactly then folk music becomes as dead as some people claim it to be".