JC- With respect, I'm not sure if I understand what your definition of a collector is.

If you have "recorded some songs, some stories, some oral history", then I think I might describe you as one, even if you don't think you deserve the title! That would be especially true if you had published some of that work- as Sam Lee appears to have done via soundcloud, admittedly in a rather haphazard and uncatalogued way (so far).

I believe that Sam Lee's "body of work" as a collector is indeed there on the Soundcloud link ie: several recordings of singers that he has "collected" in person.

I don't take any particular side in this, but I am struggling to see why he can't be called a "collector" even if you don't like the way he is personally making use of the material in his own work.