Fair point Cresby, and a fair cop too. But it may not be quite as simple as that. Have you read the full article, and did you see this? Obviously I'm making a slightly different point there, but the second part, about the dissemination of material, post 'oral/aural process,' and the championing of folk music outside of the current silo, is relevant, I think.

Those of you who have read the article will have noted that I'm not only concerned about the reduction in guest bookings, but also the root cause of that; namely regulars choosing not to turn out for guests, specially those they've not seen before. This is perfectly reasonable, of course, but it's unfortunate for organisers and new artists (and ultimately the folk world, if you accept my argument above) as long as it remains difficult to get non-folk-club people through the door for reasons raised by others above.

Tom