With all due respects to songwriters who fall under the title of 'folk' traditional singers have been producing version of folk songs since the genre caught the interest of the wider world, without being reward in any shape or form, beyond the odd pint (maybe) or the handshake and thanks
"Arrangements" of their songs have been made and copyrighted, without payment or even credit
They have us their songs and time freely, only to have them sold off or used without being consulted or without reward
None of this, of course, means that songwriters aren't entitled to remuneration for their efforts - of course they are, but as far as i'm concerned, they come fairly well down the pecking order of entitlement
Technically, 'folk' comes within the realms of 'the public domain', and for many of the early songwriters on the scene, money was the last thing on their mind when they composed their songs - that it seems to have become a dominant paert of the folk scene is, for me, a pretty convincing sign that 'The times they are a-changing'
If Discogs is a parasitic set-up, what does that make a folk scene that has relied on songs and music passed on to us for over a century without us having to pay for it
My heart really does bleed - maybe it's time to recompose a song and give it the title, "Pity the downtrodden singer-songwriter"
Priorities bro - priorities
Anybody seeking to make money from the folk scene is really looking in the wrong place
Jim Carroll