I partially agree with PFR that societal change plays a part in the very evident demise of folk music, but to equate the real thing, the atmosphere, the personal contact, the participation where appropriate, with youtube videos no matter how technically proficient, is a grave mistake......we are losing the heart and soul of the music by commercial dilution.
Traditional music is designed to make you happy enough to dance and to make you think hard enough to gain some understanding of life and what it brings.
Folk music could be a bridge back from what society is very rapidly becoming, a joining together of people regardless of age or circumstance, in the face of rampant commercialism and social insanity.