Folk Music professional versus amateur
A number of recent threads including the Occupy Folk music ones, bemoan the fact that apparently great acts can't break into the folk scene due to some shadowy cabal deeming them inappropriate.
These acts I assume to be professional; to the extent that they are seeking paid gigs and expect to be in the running for awards e.g. BBC folk awards.
Any profession will be competitive and none more so than music.
In order to succeed any artist must in my opinion as a minimum:-
1.        Be technically very competent.
2.        Ideally have some unique characteristic
3.        Pursue a relentless campaign of publicity and networking to maximise exposure
4.        Play what the current market wishes to hear
5.        Be persistent and get lucky
Many artists will still fail to gain the recognition they may think they deserve. That is the market at work in the real world and either change your act or live with it.
In the folk world I inhabit most of the performers are amateurs, for us it is a hobby, a social occasion where like minded people gather to make music to the best of their abilities ( there are some extremely talented amateurs). We gravitate towards the groups/clubs which play the music we like and we are not paid nor seeking recognition and awards.
I believe that as an amateur whatever type of music you play there will be some venue/club/group which meets your needs. As a professional things will be very different and just being technically good is unlikely to be enough to break into a very competitive field.
john