I am involved with a small sing-around club. We call ourselves a folk club though any of us will admit that not everything we sing is folk - no need for "what is folk" debates here.

A few years ago I found an article in a local magazine interviewing a chap who was starting a new folk club. He said there were no folk clubs in the area. Not only are there several, maybe dozens of folk clubs within a twenty mile or so radius, but our club was little more than "down the road". What's more it turned out that it would be a guest club, no problem with that, but one presenting a support act and the guest with no opportunity for "floor spots".

Now maybe I'm old fashioned, but for me a guest-booking folk club invites its members and visitors to provide floor spots. When I used to regularly visit such clubs I sometimes enjoyed the floor spots more than the guest, and for that reason those clubs I attended regularly I would attend even if I wasn't particularly attracted by the guest.

What this "club" was providing was in my view a "folk music venue" and not a folk club at all. If it didn't always clash with our club I might go occasionally when there was a guest I particularly wanted to see, but it's not the sort of thing I would become loyal to. I'm sure some will disagree and that's fair enough.

While he has had guests that I might have wanted to see, this is for me a commercialisation of the folk club concept. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but if this sort of venue ever takes over from "proper" contributory folk clubs I will be very sad.