Reading this thread I'm struck by the differences in perceptions and I suspect many of the differences correlate with different notions of "community". In a club or session situation where the history of the event and the participants would mean they thought of themselves as a community, various traditions would build up, some of which could involve 'ownership' of particular performances. In another thread I related John Manifold's encounter with this 'ownership' when he was collecting around Oz in the 50s and 60s and which he put in the "Introduction" to "The Penguin Australian Song Book" compiled and with notes by John Manifold, published by Penguin Books, Ringwood, Victoria, in 1964.

"I sometimes wish, in vain, that we could keep up the strict etiquette that was observed by the real bush singers. A young man used to learn his songs from the acknowledged singer of the district, and might eventually earn permission to sing them to the limited 'public' of the bush wherever or whenever the acknowledged singer was not present. Some few songs were common property; others, 'songs from the books', were rather contemptuously exempted from the rule; but in the main this apprenticeship system prevailed, at least among men. When the public performer of a 'treason song' might earn a stretch in jail, it was a point of honour to perform it properly."

That approach might be OK in a small community, or even a large and relatively homogenous one, but would be at odds with larger and more heterogenous groups. And then you have those, in any community however defined or sized, who 'stir the pot' with alternative views contrary to previously received wisdom.

In Oz I've observed all the nice and not-so-nice behaviours described above and some of them (of both sorts) have happened to me; I dare say there'd be one or two people who'd say I had done them (again, both sorts) to them. It's all part of learning how to behave in a community. Depending on circumstance, when confronted by others' contributions that I thought distracting, I have completely changed the phrasing, gone very soft or much louder or I have relied on the Oz knowledge of bushranging and commented "I thought I was the one robbing this coach!" When I smile politely at the same time most people are polite in return.

Cheers, Rowan