When one goes to sessions, parties, songswaps, singalongs, clubs, concerts etc. & hear's the likes of folks singing the songs of contemporary artists it's a clue that, that artist may be on to something. Aside from the many traditional songs I sing I also sing songs written by Si Kahn, Ewan MacColl, Archie Fisher, Stan Rogers, Richard Thompson, Martin Grabe, Steve Tillson, Paul Siebel, Badger Clark, Kate Wolfe, Peter Bellamy, Lyle Lovett, Mike Harding, and a whole host of others. I hear other folks singing songs from contemporary artists. AAAAND I hear others singing along, they also know & enjoy these songs. This may not be a scientific approach but if no one else is singing your songs off stage or singing along except for maybe a few friends &/or another contemporary stage performer then I don't think that your songs cut it as what might make it into the contemporary folk song catagorary. You can't call yourself a folk singer or a writer of folksongs, the common folk will take care of that, they will deceide if your songs are worth singing. Just cause one stands on a stage & has a great voice (BTW the 2 I saw Friday night had fantastic voices BUT) & plays an accoustic instrument talks a folkie talk & walks the walk doesn't mean that crowd is gonna take your songs to heart & start singing them BUT when they do, when one's songs start popping up at different places & are being sung by a host of others, when someone starts looking for the words to your song on the internet cause they want to sing it.
Yrs ago 30 ? I heard a woman get asked at a session if she'd sing one of her songs. I had no idea who she was I was new to the area but they all seemed to know her. She asked if it was alright if she tried out a new one of her own & the players/singers were very incourging. It seems that this was played out a few times before. She sang the song, it was great, it was one worth stealing. Before she was done others were trying to join in then after, asking if she'd do one more. That was Kate Wolfe, the stuff she wrote gets sung by many. Will she be considered a folk singer, a writer of folk songs? It certinally seems that way. She doesn't write from any perticular tradition but she wrote in such a way that it very much appealed to those that loved to sing & hear folk songs. So it's not up to a permoter, radio station, festival, or the songwriter themselves. We will be your judge, if we sing your songs & sing along to them, no matter who sings them, then let someone bill you as a songwriter who does "folk" otherwise you're a singer/songwriter & today you're a dime a dozen.

Barry