The Folk Directory

Subject: The Folk Directory
From: GUEST,Glen
Date: 29 Dec 11 - 04:45 AM

Hi all,

Some years ago I posted on mudcat regarding a website I was starting called the Folk Directory.

The site has been down for a while due to a string of disasters. I had been studying full time and working and had been unable to get the website going again. I recently saw a website of the same name that was charging a lot of money to list events. This was completely against the ethos of the site I started, which intended to give people a comprehensive guide to live folk music free of charge.

I am very pleased to say that the Folk Directory is now back online, has almost 400 events listed, and is still completely free.

The website is at www.FolkDirectory.co.uk.

The Folk Directory is maintained by the folk music community - if you know of an event that is not in the directory, it would be great if you could add it to the site so that others can find out about it. I'd also appreciate any thoughts or comments you have about the site.

Cheers,

Glen

Subject: RE: The Folk Directory
From: Will Fly
Date: 29 Dec 11 - 05:01 AM

Hi Glen. Could you tell us what the fee-charging site you mentioned is called? Out of curiosity. A Google search shows:

http://www.folkrootslist.co.uk/

and there's also:

http://www.ukfolkmusic.co.uk/

The problem with a voluntary listing site is that you're reliant on the accuracy and initial interest of the posters and, of course, the problem with a fee-paying site is that some people don't want to pay to advertise! The answer, IMO, is that you really have to have a certain pro-activeness with these listing sites - i.e. go out and harvest the information for yourself - for them to be successful. The flipside being that you have to keep a weather eye on it all the time.

I've just done a search on events in West Sussex - none. Mmm...

Whatever - good luck with it!

Subject: RE: The Folk Directory
From: Dennis the Elder
Date: 29 Dec 11 - 05:05 AM

Hi Glen,

Its looking well, your hard work is obvious.
Your site certainly is going to be very useful.
Just a thought for a second area to the site, folk clubs. I know this would multiply your work load greatly. It would, however, assist those often working away from home to find a club to visit.
Good luck
Dennis

Subject: RE: The Folk Directory
From: GUEST,SteveT
Date: 29 Dec 11 - 05:28 AM

This is an interesting concept but a huge task. Perhaps in your "Links" you could link to some of the excellent but more local folk listings such as Leicestershire's (and surrounding's) "Leicester Folk Diary" ( http://lfd.org.uk/ ) or Devon's "Devon Folk" ( http://www.devonfolk.co.uk/ ) - both offering comprehensive coverage of their local areas. I know there are other such listings but I've used both of these and found them both useful and relatively accurate! I can't vouch for the others but I'm sure many are similarly excellent.

Subject: RE: The Folk Directory
From: BB
Date: 29 Dec 11 - 06:18 AM

As an organiser, I know that it takes vast amounts of time to update all the various sites with events that one is putting on. And as someone travelling around, I find that I look at local listings more than national ones.

As a by-the-way, Devon Folk tends towards South Devon - for North Devon/West Somerset, the 'local events' link at the Shammick Acoustic website is pretty comprehensive, and regularly updated.

Subject: RE: The Folk Directory
From: GUEST,PeterC
Date: 29 Dec 11 - 06:33 AM

I assume that the former publisher of the publication called "Folk Directory" didn't register the name as a trademark?

Subject: RE: The Folk Directory
From: Bonnie Shaljean
Date: 29 Dec 11 - 07:03 AM

> I assume that the former publisher of the publication called "Folk Directory" didn't register the name as a trademark?

That would be the EFDSS (I know, cuz I edited the FD for 1977 & 1978). I don't believe it's published anymore so can't see that it would be a problem. There are legal differences between registering a trademark and registering a business name - assuming they did either of those things. More likely they just put it out without bothering, but I don't honestly know. (Somebody correct me if I'm wrong!) In any case, I'm pretty sure that it's a defunct publication so the name would no longer be in trading use.

Subject: RE: The Folk Directory
From: Will Fly
Date: 29 Dec 11 - 09:56 AM

I may be wrong here, but I don't think a URL qualifies as a trademark or legal business name. If you were the first person to grab (for example) www.harrods.co.uk before Harrods grabbed it, then you'd be entitled to use that URL. In fact, a number of people bought up URLs of potential websites in the early www days - just so that they could possibly be bought out, for a price, by the firms or institutions who wanted them.

So, unless web registration has changed in principle, www.FolkDirectory.co.uk can be quite legally used if you own that URL.

Subject: RE: The Folk Directory
From: GUEST,Glen
Date: 29 Dec 11 - 04:48 PM

Hi again,

Thanks for your comments, I appreciate the input and that you've taken the time to get back to me.

Will - the other website I was talking about was also called the Folk Directory, but it now seems to have gone. The UKfolkmusic site you link to says it will have a database soon but that they will charge a subscription fee, which I personally think is ridiculous. I made the Folk Directory to be a free resource yet people now seem to want to make some money from it.

I have been somewhat proactive myself, and I am glad to say that people have also been keen to add their events. There are some things built into the site to try and find out-of-date listings, which should help me stay on top of it.

Sorry that you found nothing in West Sussex. There are 384 events listed - obviously nobody from West Sussex has added to the database yet!

Dennis - We do list folk clubs, and so far there are 116 of them: click here to see them.

SteveT and BB - Updating every single event myself would be a near-impossible task. The idea is that people update the information about their events. In any case, the Directory provides contact details so that organisers can be contacted. So far, organisers have been active in updating their listings.

I think local listings are invaluable, and the Folk Directory does not intend to, and could never, replace these sites. I suppose that the Folk Directory will be useful to different people for different reasons. For example, I've had emails from young people saying that it helped them find their first folk clubs and festivals, and emails from overseas visitors that used the Folk Directory to find an event to attend on their travels.

I like your idea regarding linking to local listings and have taken it on board. My plan is to incorporate links to local listings into the search, so, for example, if no listings are found for a county, the Folk Directory suggests some other sites to look at. This should be incorporated in the next few weeks.

As for the trademark thing - when I first made the Folk Directory, I didn't realise that there had previously been a paper publication of this name; I only found out about this subsequently. I understand that the paper publication has not been published for some time, so I can't imagine that it would be a problem. Also, I can't imagine that EFDSS or folky people in general would get too hung up on these things (or I would like to think they wouldn't)!

Thanks again everyone :)

Glen

Subject: RE: The Folk Directory
From: Dennis the Elder
Date: 30 Dec 11 - 06:36 AM

Hi Glen,
Thanks for clarification.
Just two more questions, I belong to a Club at Wath in South Yorkshire (Perma Thread on Mudcat) which is mainly for sing arounds, but does have artists 5 or 6 times a year. Do I enter this as a "Club" a "Sing Around" or both?. Just to confuse it further Wath also has a Festival run separately, can I put this on or should this be done only by the organisers?
Thanks again

Subject: RE: The Folk Directory
From: GUEST,Peter C
Date: 30 Dec 11 - 07:16 AM

We at Glosfolk maintain a (free) folk directory - for performers, and a (free) diary of events in and around Gloucestershire. As some of the contributors to this thread have mentioned it is of course very very time consuming. We do not let people update entries themselves, so keep a handle on what is included (To make sure it is actually 'folk' and not rock 'n roll, etc)
It is at Glosfolk

Directory categories on left, Diary at top of page

Subject: RE: The Folk Directory
From: GUEST,Glen
Date: 30 Dec 11 - 08:16 AM

Hi all,

I should probably make it a bit clearer on the site how the system actually works as I've just realised there is no explanation.

What happens is that users add their details using the add page, and then they come through to me so I can check them before they go online. This way I can make sure the info is as detailed as possible and that it is all correct (and folky!). That way most of the work is done by lots of users all submitting their events - I just check over them.

Dennis - if you hover over the little question mark buttons on the add page there is a description of what each category is (again, I will make this clearer on the page somewhere). I take a club to be a regular meeting mixing singers nights, open mics, guestss etc., whereas a singaround/session is just that. Definitely go ahead and put your festival on the site, if it isn't there already!

Cheers,

Glen

Subject: RE: The Folk Directory
From: FreddyHeadey
Date: 25 Nov 18 - 08:36 AM

"The Folk Directory"
seems to have gone off line now.

For anyone wanting to promote gigs I might suggest Ents24.
It's free.
It's slick because it covers comedy, theatre, cinema and all-sorts of music and must be making its money from advertising revenue there
but you can do a lot of fine tuning by genre.
https://m.ents24.com/whatson/search/near/petworth/radius/35/genre/celtic%2Cfolk%2Cworld%2Cstorytelling/order/date

To list events you need to sign up at
https://backstage.ents24.com
It's a little bit fiddly if you've got an artist or venue not already on their database but not bad.
It's easier on a pc than a smaller device.