Greetings:

I am not really a professional folksinger. Although I do a few paid gigs every year, I barely break even, so folk music is pretty much a hobby. However, I do have quite a few friends who are professional folksingers, meaning they make their living from their music, and what Mike Miller says is absolutely true. The coffee house, pub, festival, and house concert circuit is not where they make most of their income. Nor is it from CD sales, although that income certainly helps. Most of their money comes instead from playing at schools, community centers, libraries, museums, arts centers, old age homes, hospitals, etc. I said much the same thing five years ago in a thread called A Real Folksinger. It's still true today.

--- Steve