The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #98509   Message #1952353
Posted By: Scoville
30-Jan-07 - 09:33 AM
Thread Name: Folk Process - is it dead?
Subject: RE: Folk Process - is it dead?
Grab--folk musicians will. The general public never has and never will care, but my experience has been that people who really like the music will seek out alternative and often less-commercialized versions. Furthermore, finding them is, if anything, getting easier since we now have the Internet, which not only makes it easier to search but makes it easier for people who have these resources to make them available to a wider consumer base.

Example: I (living in Texas) recently purchased a record by a commercially obscure Canadian fiddler on eBay, after having heard his music in a YouTube video. Fifteen years ago I *might* have heard about him (through friends who live further north, where they are more attuned to that fiddle culture) but it would have been nearly impossible for me to find recordings of him, and I don't like to buy recordings without hearing the musician first. Instead, it took me about three minutes to locate and purchase a limited-production CD. Bingo--market expansion.