When a song speaks to you, for whatever reason, you may feel compelled to speak for it. It doens't necessarily depend on your own obvious activities.
Were the crofters part of the king's courts and fairy barrows they sang of? No, but those songs expressed something for them. As long as that expression was important to someone, the songs continued. You can express a lot of your own sorrow in a good sad song, without having to reveal your personal pain or circumstance. It's a useful emotional tool.
Yes, it's also an art form, of which certain singers were (and are) immensely and justifiably proud. But the persistence of the tradition always depended on who else cared. Still does.