While our "folk clubs" are very different from yours in the UK, there is no doubt in my mind that the concept of "net generation" communications is valid and vital.

In addition to my radio show, I am the president of the Hurdy Gurdy Folk Music Club in Fair Lawn, NJ. (www.hurdygurdyfolk.org) We present monthly concerts in a 170 seat theater. The club has been in existence since 1981.

In the past, we would promote our concerts through a newsletter to our members (which dwindled from over 400 to less than 100 over 20 years) and standard press releases that were mailed to local newspapers. In addition, I would promote the concerts on my radio show - along with concerts of other area venues.

In the last 10 years, we noticed that newspapers pretty much stopped printing our releases. Attendance declined - but that appeared to be common.

Over the last 4 years, we have made an effort to increase our e-mail list. We send out several notifications and reminders.   Newspapers are now requiring electronic submission for events. We now see regular listings, printing of our releases, and local papers are even doing interviews with our upcoming artists.   With social networks like Facebook, we have also increased communication and seen a response. There are other websites such as Eventful and Reverbnation that have proved to be a benefit.

A publicist told me that current publicity efforts recognize that individuals need THREE separate instances of finding information about your event before reacting. That could be a combination of seeing a poster, reading a notice in a newspaper, hearing a mention on radio, or receiving an e-mail.   The latter is the easiest, fastest, and ultimately cheapest method.

Now, the title of this thread indicates "traditional" music.   As they say, you can lead a horse to water.... etc.   The main thing is creating a route and in an electronic age it helps to use the same tools that your intended audience is familiar with. It makes it "cool"!