Hmm, interesting. So where does that leave broadside ballads, many of which have entered the 'folk tradition' and are generally recognised as folk songs, even as 'traditional'. Weren't these songs professionally written?

For my own part I tend to admit to 'doing music' and letting others decide if the songs and tunes are folk or not. Of course it makes it more difficult to describe if people say 'what sort of music do you do?'