Well, I'm drinking coffee at the moment - still a little too early for beer here in California. But what do I do with the coffee that got sprayed all over my desk and monitor?

But hey, Bonzo3legs gave a very profound answer to Conrad's question. The ANSWER is that Conrad continues to ask the wrong QUESTION. The "commercial model" of folk music is dead. If you think you can make a living off folk music, you must be either crazy or Seamus Kennedy.

Conrad, ya gotta get this straight - folk music is not a business, at least it isn't in the U.S. You can make a better income at McDonald's as an assistant hamburger flipper. Folk music is music that people make themselves and with others. That's the wonderful thing about it. You can go somewhere and drink a couple beers, and hear wonderful music, and not pay big bucks for tickets. Or if you want to get extravagant, you can go to somebody's house and make a donation of ten or twenty bucks to hear an excellent performance. If you can't afford that, sometimes the host can make an exception for you. And yes, I suppose there still are some festivals that might make some income for somebody - but most folk festivals I've seen still cost less for a weekend, than the admission for a two-hour concert from a pop performer. And DC and San Francisco and other places have free folk festivals. Now, the situation in the UK is quite different, but you and I don't live there.

But Conrad, I think you're starting far too many threads that are more-or-less on the same theme. Instead of that, why not build on threads you've already started. You can find them with the Filter, or by clicking on your name in any message you've posted.

-Joe-