"It seems that with some festivals and folk clubs, "who you know" is more likely to get you booked than your ability as a performer and if you are a group how much does the name of your group influence the decision to book you."

Ya know, there's this crazy thing you've gotta do when you're programming festivals and gigs. It's called "selling tickets". And for the most part, when it comes to people actually buying tickets, they prefer to see people they've heard of. Go figure.

As much as I'd like to give a gig or a festival spot to every really good band I've seen, I can't. Because if I don't at least break even, I'd be out on my arse. For the most part, I try to strike a balance between well-known bands with an established fanbase and giving opportunities to new, local or less well known talent.

I should add that I've been trying to get warm-up spots for good local bands during my regular, non-festival season, but it's often not welcomed by the artist/agent (hard to tell sometimes where the resistance is coming from, though I have my suspicions).

If it's about "who you know", get out and get to know some more people.