I always thought the quote attributed to Duke Ellington (though it's attributed to lots of others too) was:

"There's two kinds of music: good and bad. I like both."

Being very lazy and not knowing the history of all this but when did this problem start?

If people keep looking back 54 years to a definition I wonder why someone felt they had to define it THEN? Perhaps someone could explain. You only try and define things that have existed for a long time when you have a problem and folk music predates 1954 (by defintion!!) - for example compare measurements which were non standard for a long time (my cubit's not your cubit) and needed standardising at a time when precision became relevant and important.

Presumably in 1954 it was felt that the situation was already out of hand and needed sorting out.

What was the problem THEN and when did the problem start?

Why are people constantly trying to return to 1954 when there was already a problem?

Why did everyone ignore it between 1954 and say mid 1970s and include all these other non-folk stuff under the folk umbrella? By then my idea of folk had already been corrupted. I don't think that Seth Lakeman - like him or not - is really the problem