In the ethnomusicologists’ activity a phenomenon of traditional music competitions becoming the main medium of researchers’ influence on the subject under study. Many ethnomusicologists saw there an opportunity to encourage musicians and singers to cultivate rare and archaic phenomena, while limiting the influx of new ones. But from the other hand the form of competition, requiring the presence of an “expert” and often with multi-stage structure, surrounded by coaches and consultants, engaged numerous ethnomusicologists, occupying their time and thought, while significantly changing relations between the researcher and the subject, and the perception of the study subject by ethnomusicologist. This in turn impacted scientific activity of ethnomusicologist and the consciousness of performers, as well as their repertoire. The Polish case is a good example to discuss this phenomenon, where it still lives on for many years, making it an attractive study subject.