"in a strict sense, then the artists performing them are entitled to claim and be paid for their arrangement."
If this is true, every trad song is an arrangement and has no right to have been placed in the public domain - it really is time that that people came to terms with this.
Walter Pardon's versions are 'unique' (Mike Yates once offered a very fine reason for this)
Why should a modern folkie have the right to claim for his/her versions while our older singers did not ?
This obsession with payment continues to damage the future of folks song - in needs to be knocked on the head.

As far as 'personal use' is concerned, that is a meaningless term; we never used it.
We asked singers if they had any objections to us recording their singing - that we would not go off and sell it went without saying - 'arrangements'and payment didn't feature much in folk song in those days and, especially considering the uncertain future of folk song, it shouldn't now.

As far as distributing material; my maye Bob's suggestion of setting uup a 'sharing' group seems more and more sensible
He pointed out that PCloud were offering a bargain-price increase of space
I use their freebie space, but have been considering expanding my space - I see no reason why a group of like-minded people couldn't share the cost and share the space
About time folk got back to the grass-roots sharing philosophy that gave us the pleasure that is folk song
Jim