I want to supplement what CupOfTea and Tom Nelligan wrote about the Folk Alliance. I believe (I'm not 100% sure) that the FA has actively helped individual venues with negotiations in the past. I also believe that they are aware of the types of arrangements that ASCAP has made with some folk venues that have enabled the venues to carry on.

What I'm adding here is, don't merely prowl through the FA website. Contact them. Shoot an email to Exec. Director Louis Meyers, who I hope would want to help even if you are not currently a member. That, I would think, is how you entice members. His address is louis at folk.org This is, I hope, part of what the FA does.

Michael Scully
Austin, TX