I'm pleased to hear the distribution system works for folkies. Since PRS seem to have moved away from returns from every gig to a system of random samples I had wondered how many folk venues were actually getting sampled. However I still have doubts whether smaller sessions and singarounds feature on PRS's radar. It would be interesting to know if anyone has direct experience of PRS sampling such an event - I've never met anyone.

My point about the Gigs and Clubs Scheme is that it is aimed at performing writers and arrangers. If they're performing their own songs or arrangements they can put in a set list and get paid. However there no longer seems to be a system for submitting returns from small events which don't get sampled (although in my experience very few folk venues ever seemed to use them - possibly because the club wasn't the PRS licensee and the landlord wasn't interested)

I agree that a performer should try to find out the origins of material they perform. However in practice this is very difficult. It doesn't help that the PRS database is only accessible to its members - another example of their muddled thinking, since surely they should be making it easier for the people actually using the music to find out what the copyright position is.