I have heard this story so many times. The magazine Banjo Mandolin and Guitar in the mid 60s anounced that it was JUST possible to make a living as a folk performer if you slept on the floor and could scrape by on £20 a week which was an existing wage then. Most gigging musicians do not make much money unless you are doing covers or in a function band. You make work a lot indeed but the outgoings outway the incomings.

The decline in the pub market has also had an impact and the Kim Howell legislation put a lot of publicans off live music. in our part of London there is a vibrant acoustic music scene but it is not trad folk Young people go to blues and acoustic clubs where younger people play

Folkies tending to be older do not
Hence the old joke Whats 50 yards long has five teeth and smells of piddle. The front row at a Willie Nelson concert