Bit more time now
What distinguishes folk music from any other form is that it was almost certainly made by one social group (class) of people to capture and describe their lives and emotion - that is why it, along with dance, tales, music, lore.... was given its name - folk.
This has been a recognised factor since the term 'folk' was thought up in the 1830s.
The only way you can change or reject that definition or any replacement to it which includes that fact, is to dispossess ordinary people of their cultural heritage
Throuhout my time in Folk Music ther have been those who claim that 'the folk' were not capable of creating great works of art, such as the ballads - nw that seems to have filtered down to folk song in general.
I personally find it insulting to suggest that folk song was largely the product of a group on anonymous, notoriously bad poets (hacks) the bulk of whose output was unsingable and unmemorable.
I know folk song to be much better than that
jim Carroll