I think there is a national difference at work here. It would appear to me that there is less of a problem here in the UK than in the US, where there seems to be somewhat of a clearer line between what is considered singer-songwriter and what is folk. Is that true? How about the rest of the world?

Here it would seem that the distinctions are more blurred. It could be because not many performers from folk based music have gone on to be mega-famous and wealthy.

Here the concept of singer-songwriters performing to an audience made up of singer-songwriters has not (thankfully) caught on (yet). That I would suggest is the big danger. Which brings me back to the fact that we have to work a little harder to appreciate original material if we don't want to create these inward-looking'ghettos', where the only people prepared to make the small effort to listen to original material are those that produce it. themselves