"Anyone can go to a library."

Yes - so how come so few people do? Libraries are free at the point of use (though we do pay for them through our taxes - is this another area where you'd abolish subsidy?), so there are no barriers to access. They are a good test of your theory that if things are free, more people do them. The majority of people don't regularly use libraries. They buy books. They read on the internet. Some don't read at all.

It's all about perceived value. And here's a thing: in a capitalist society (which, as a political conservative, you presumably advocate), many things which have no price are perceived as worthless. If you give away free tickets to an event, especially if it is for a kind of entertainment with which the target audience is unfamiliar, many just won't bother. The event has no perceived value for them, and with limited leisure time to "spend", people are very careful about the choices they make. If you charge for the tickets, the potential attender has made an investment which is more likely to secure their attendance, and they see the event as having an intrinsic value.

You don't believe me? I have seen professional venues try to develop audiences for less popular artforms, such as contemporary dance, by giving tickets away. Audiences still stayed away in droves.

My point is that, for people who don't know anything about folk music, making it free won't inspire them to come. If you do, by some minor miracle, manage to get a few of them into your field, asking them to listen to poor performers and to shit in a hedge is hardly going to compare with the leisure experiences they are used to, and you're not very likely to see them a second time. A bad experience of folk will put off many new attenders for life, as it reinforces negative stereotypes. Far from opening the gates, Conrad, your little masterplan would kill folk stone dead.