In recent years, I've noticed that there is an increasing tendency for folkie singers and musicians to "show off" rather than share their music.

It might not be a global or even a national phenomenon but it seems to be much more common in Scotland.
Of course, the performance aspect has always been there and we have always had professional full time musicians gigging for a living alongside an amateur scene. There certainly is a place for this and I wouldn't be involved in helping to run a folk club if I thought otherwise.

However, I've noticed that there is an increasing tendency towards "Open Stage/Mic" events along with pre arranged and organised "free" music at festivals these days. There seems to be no shortage of people willing to perform at these either to assist in self promotion or achieve their moment of glory.

There are still sessions and singarounds, of course, but again they are frequently home to those people who just wish to be the centre of attraction. So, instead of sharing a few songs and tunes with friends and fellow musicians, they prefer to give a performance to impress whoever else is there including, possibly, any non musician punters who may be present. So, the quality of music inevitably suffers in these situations as everyone is trying to push themselves forward to get attention whether it be dancing on the table while playing the fiddle, seranading helpless and captive diners and drinkers with "dualling banjos" or clarinet solos etc.

I noticed too that musicians and singers increasing seem to favour large sessions when, really, the ideal number is probably somewhere between 6-10 people. Think about it, singers would get a chance to do more songs this way and tunes sessions will be much tighter.

The only reason I can see why people increasingly seem to prefer large unwieldy gatherings is that they want to be heard by as many people as possible. Certainly, they don't appear to be that interested in listening to their fellow musicians and singers when they are there. Most of the time, it's just "Me, me, me".

Rant over.