Dave,
its impossible to produce evidence,that doesnt mean that it does not go on.
the folkscene is like any other walk of life,there are lots of grey areas,who gets certain jobs is not decided entirely on merit.
let me give you an example in a totally different field ,a relative of mine was at a job interview,one of the interviewers,had been at Oxford University at the same time,so two people of equal calibre apply for the job,who do you think gets the job?.[its called the old school tie]
the same sort of thing happens in the folk world,its almost unavoidable,but to pretend it doesnt exist is dishonest,it also does not mean that those people that get certain jobs are not competent,it means that it is not decided entirely on merit.,who you know is as important as what you know.
I am not saying that the people who get certain jobs do not deserve them,they are not incompetent they are often very good, but friendship,as a result of networking can enter the equation, but merit is not the only deciding factor.
BB makes an excellent post re festivals here it is again:
``I agree with Lizzie in one respect - I think there is quite a large number of performers who have been around for years who deserve to be higher up the ladder than they are. They do fairly well in the general run of folk clubs (probably because they don't cost too much!), but they are not so much in evidence at festivals. I think that one of the reasons is that festival organisers spend vast amounts of money getting the top bands in for perhaps one concert, because their names on the bills bring in the punters (or at least, the organisers think they do), so there isn't so much money around for the others, and festival organisers have, I think, a tendency to then fill in with local (and cheap) performers who actually make their living in a different way. Whether this set-up is value for money for the audiences is debateable.``
Dave,do you think this is a good set up?is it value for money?I would like an honest answer.