Of course, folk music and folklore reflect a study of "common usage".

Sorry Don, you are missing the point of what I, and others, have been saying. You have blinders on and won't accept that definitions can, and should, change with the times.

I am not disagreeing with you or anyone on what constitutes the so-called "folk tradition" and how the oral tradition enabled folk songs to be shared from generation to generation. I know, and respect, the scholars who study this - but it does not change the facts that the situations that they were studying and the methods that they used to collect 100 years or more ago have changed. There is a large community that shares contemporary songs and use them in the fashion that earlier generations shared their songs.   You do not have to agree, that is your choice. Folk music is a living tradition.