I'd like to understand the practice of "giving" a song (not one you wrote, that is, but in fact someone else's) to another singer. I confess that I find the concept of not singing a particular song because someone else does it regularly at the same venue, limiting. And to have to ask permission from someone who has not written or resorded it, seems dubious at best and silly at worst.

But perhaps I am missing something. So can you help me understand, how this practice came about? I certainly don't remember it happening 30 years ago, when I first joined the folk club scene. But I went "on a break" in the 80's and 90's, which is when this practice seems to have evolved.

Is it to avoid "competition"? But then, how can songs spread, if singers are hamstrung by such practices?