sorry, I'm going to perpetuate the 'hijack' for a bit...

John said:
" I think you said, on another thread a few months ago (my appologies if this wasn't you) in response to somebody looking for advice on getting dates, that it has never been easier to get bookings - you listed all the ways of publicising yourself. I would take issue; it's true that there have never been so many ways to publicise yourself, many of which are free, or inexpensive, but getting dates is another matter. I've been singing in the clubs for 45 years, all but a few years gap, and I'd say it's never been harder."

...yes, sounds like me. And I still think it's easy to get gigs, thanks to social networking and the internet, but that might be because perhaps we're spoilt, to an extent, in London. There are a LOT of places to play here and I've never had a problem getting gigs, even though I'm nobody, with very few recordings to show for myself.

I admit, it must be very difficult if you don't even have a computer. And I agree with you, that, in principle, it SHOULD be, in an ideal world, the case that one could just, in an egalitarian way, turn up and do a floor spot, blow everyone away by one's brilliance and be offered back for a headline gig, or a too-notch support slot to Martin Carthy or something.

But, personally, I think you're underestimating people's tolerance for the kind of overproduced, glossy CD, big-package presentation. I think it carries a lot of weight. I've seen a lot of the current, younger folk scene's brightest and best being roundly ignored at folk clubs and singer-songwriter nights over the last 10 years ... until, that is, they got record deals, album reviews ... success breeds success and people tend to hear with their preconceptions, and enjoy things they have been primed to enjoy.

I mean, there's a singer at my local folk club who really struggles with pitch, wandering all over the place, but who everyone else thinks is a-mazing, largely I suspect because she's easy on the eye and her general singing voice is pleasant in that "pretty young girl who sings folk" kind of way. Somehow I don't think she'd be tolerated at all there if she was a podgy, bald, 60something. One strange side-effect of the digital age is that people want to believe their eyes.