Mick, the point I was trying to make is that "traditional" is almost a misnomer - perhaps "unknown" is more appropriate.   What I was trying to say is that we are calling these "traditional" because as you say they were passed down through generations and the author is unknown, but that is a reflection on the tools that were available to
"transmit" these songs.

Yes, I guess I did prove your point that "traditional" is dead in the respect that modern technology will enable us to better trace the authors of songs - sort of like how DNA enables us to identify human remains which could make it impossible to have unidentified bodies in the future.   

However, "traditional" is merely a label that is more of a reflection of "dead-ends" in our research.