I wish people wouldn't paint such broad strokes when talking about "the music industry" when they mean the commercial pop industry (including all rock, rap, metal, some jazz, etc).
Of course I know people who are playing less and struggling to make their mark. But I probably know as many (likely more) people who are making a living as a musician/composer/arranger/performer. The latter group (also the latte group) tend to have a classical slant and a bit more training and/or more broad experiences making music than their more causal counterparts.
I'm not saying (not even just sayin') that those who pick up a reasonably simple instrument to play (at least on the surface) such as guitar, drums, bass, simple keyboards, or voice can't bring a high level of skill to the instrument. Clearly, they can. Then again, limiting oneself to "what one knows" (I carefully avoided the word self-taught here as I am) is... well, limiting.
I think there is a difference between how you can define musicians:
Vocalist as opposed to Singer.
Drummer v. Percussionist.
Guitar player v. Guitarist.
Keyboard player v. Pianist.
Songwriter v. Composer.
Producer v. Arranger.
On the surface, you might think the group on the left were the "specialists" when in fact, often they don't specialize at all. More often they are more accurately one-trick-ponies who either aren't willing, able, or motivated enough to break out of their own box. Many from that group have made a TON of money and created incredible work. Others see this and think it's relatively easy. It's NOT. But still, there is a glut of noise in the marketplace and amidst the noise, having your voice heard is next to impossible. I understand that.
Survival as a professional "in the music industry" (and by that I simply mean financially surviving as a musician - period) is often about flexibility. If all your eggs are in the live-band-and/or-sell-recordings-and-merchandise basket, yeah, you're in a bit of a bind right now. But keep in mind that
that is not the music industry. It
is where much of the money is/was but there is also a very big world out there, and there are many ways to skin that pussy cat.
meow!
And then there is this:
I can see where they are TRYING to go with it and it might be a good strategy on paper, but the execution and degraded user experience has caused many people I know to flee that place. Again, I'd welcome a little expansion on your comment as I'm not quite sure about the point you're making?
