maybe that financial incentive is why we never got LPs of the original singers rather than the EM version- he didn't do it on the Elliotts' LP but maybe he was happier copying Scottish stuff than mining songs from Durham?
Getting a bit off the subject this, and although I don't recognise 'contemporary folk' as any more of a genre than folk or trad, I can't see why there would be any problem with a folk or trad performer adding their own version of a modern song to their repertoire- we can't just STOP the development of the music!