Self-sabotage?

So, the North American Taiko Community is a little weird. In this case it's not the "good" kind of weird, like considering blisters as a badge of honor, no.

It's the kind of weird that wants taiko to proliferate but at the same time, is very protective of sharing songs that could help that proliferation happen.

There's an unspoken rule (although sometimes loudly spoken) that unless given explicit permission, you shouldn't play songs from another group.

New groups, even not-so-new groups, are hungry for new songs. The answer of "write your own songs" is not that helpful. There are a few public domain songs available, but some of those require having someone teach it to them directly, which some groups can't afford/manage. Other such songs are beyond what a group might be able to play, or not in their style. So what's left? There are "instructional videos", but unless it's crystal clear that the people recording them have the permission to teach a song, that's sketchy at best.

So what's happening here is a community of artists who want their art to grow and gain more exposure, but want to control how the art expands. One of the participants of this past weekend's TWI said that seeing what happens when taiko is out of control can be very exciting. What happens when someone sees taiko and misinterprets what they see, taking it in another direction and making something amazing out of it? Sure, maybe it's something that many taiko players don't like, but there again is that control factor.

So what's the solution? Beats me. I know all of a sudden dozens of groups won't up and say, "hey, you can all play our songs, just go on YouTube and learn them that way!" So how do we as a community support the ever-expanding growth of taiko while keeping songs under such tight wraps? You tell me...