The best way to care for the legacy of folk music is by active knowledge and use of the songs by as many individuals as possible not as few as possible.

Yes you have to cast a wide net to find the segment that will do this but professional performers benefit via scarcity so therefore they keep the nets tiny.

Singing quality is indeed not important. If the song lyrics are presented and the tune is basically there then it is more of a service than any number of professionals making all the money available.

Maybe you are not getting wealthy but I read of a good number of musicians that do tours involving lots of air travel and big cities.
I could not afford to that as an ordinary person and doing that contributes to overall bottom line cost certainly does not make the music cheaper.

Again dont mind pros making money I just mind their share of the best venues and available money. Its too high.

Yeah I worked for a festival director who wore scruffy clothes and drove a beat up truck and made money from volunteer exploytation. "if it wasn't for you volunteers the festival couldnt happen" yeah sure. If the volunteers did not turn up he could not own his home in a very high rent district and drive his other car a bmw and take two or three trips to europe each year. Why would anyone volunteer for such a person. It is simple abuse. He brought in vendors who made significant money. No way not necessary the music can happen without it. Sorry.

We have seen the models- they work....we just need to put them in place.

Conrad