The global pandemic has driven musicians online. We report an ethnographic account of how two traditional folk clubs with little previous interest in digital platforms transitioned to online experiences. They followed very different approaches: one adapted their existing singaround format to video conferencing while the other evolved a weekly community-produced, pre-recorded show that could be watched together. However, despite their successes, participants ultimately remained unable to 'sing in chorus' due to network constraints. We draw on theories of liveness from performance studies to explain our findings, arguing that HCI might orientate itself to online liveness as being co-produced through rich participatory structures that dissolve traditional distinctions between live and recorded and performer and audience. We discuss how participants appropriated existing platforms to achieve this, but these in turn shaped their practices in unforeseen ways. We draw out implications for the design and deployment of future live performance platforms. CCS CONCEPTS • Human-centered computing • Human computer interaction (HCI) • Empirical studies in HCI

Understanding the behavioural norms at folk clubs in England is complex because their rules of operation are rarely explicit. It is unclear how singers acquire the appropriate skills for successful engagement, and how rule management works within a musical community that prides itself on following egalitarian principles is unknown. Data from four fieldwork projects between 2008 and 2018 is combined with the authors' experience as long term participants to trace how folk clubs in England operate, with an emphasis on how normative patterns of musical behaviour are established and maintained. We found variations in how explicit folk clubs are about stating what music may be performed and how the performance context is structured. Concepts of accepted repertoire and membership show that appropriateness is incrementally learned, alongside generating a sense of belonging. This process of developing cumulative norms makes explicit rule making difficult, resulting in moderating behaviours that are correspondingly complex. As a result, opaque techniques such as humour, sarcasm or avoidance are applied. The projected images of openness and inclusiveness disguise the extent to which various forms of power operate in the range of musical experiences available within the same folk club tradition.