Hi Lucy,

I don't think there is a "folk music industry." There is a music industry and some folk musicians participate in it to varying degrees (manufacturing, duplicating, selling CDs, for example), but some don't.

I buy many CDs. I buy them at live shows. I buy them at my local record store. I buy them at festivals. I buy them from friends who are musicians. I buy them after hearing cuts on folk music radio shows (I live in the U.S. in California). I've looked at movie soundtracks featuring folk music, but have only bought one of those. I have bought one or two CDs from CDBaby. I listen to music wherever I hear it with an ear open to sounds I like (I have been known to interrupt a date to ask, "Who is that singing?").

If I can't find someone's music at the record store I will google a name and look for a website, but I probably buy fewer CDs this way.

If I am going to buy something I have heard on the radio I either look for the song I liked or I look by the artist who recorded it. Faced with a choice of CDs by an artist I haven't heard much I look for a song or two that I know and like and might like to hear a new version.

I troll around a little bit on YouTube when someone makes it easy to do so by providing hyperlinks, but I don't think I've bought anything that way yet.

As a performer, I rely on people who have heard me to buy recordings, or on people who like versions of songs I have written. I play a few open mikes, I lead a few workshops. I work on civil responses to all inquiries.

Thanks for asking the question.

Sharyn