I guess the decline of a lot of folk clubs is the fact that some people expect to get the best quality acts for the lowest price

Indeed they do. Utterly unrealistically,

There was another of these interminable threads a while ago about whether to pay artists a fixed fee or a percentage and what organisers were saying, almost without exception, was 'screw them down as much as you can'.

They also couldn't see the need to provide a green room for getting ready and tuning up or refreshments or accommodation:

'Our guests know what to expect, they change in the middle of the public bar' sort of thing.

So an artist spends all day driving to the venue, does the gig then drives all the way home again, getting back maybe in time for breakfast. A 20-hour day but a fee for two hours on stage.

No, it isn't 'reasonable' to charge punters £3 to £6 at the door, It's not the 1970s any more. Some of the top touring bands have told me that they are on the road for barely the national minumum wage. So how, exactly do the rest pay their mortgages, gas bills or even eat?

The working conditions are shit and the pay abominable. This is no way to treat the carriers of our national heritage. Entrance fee on the door should be £10 minimum, And that door should lead to premises fit to work in.