When asked why he was so successful at hockey Wayne Gretsky replied that he always went to where to puck was going to be. We as creators of music need to do the same in a figurative way. While the "dumbing down" of the live music business is occurring, because of the economic situation, there still are opportunities. Even Karaoke presents opportunities. Venues still need to pay for PRO licensing because public performance of writer's works are occurring. And I must add that a lot of professional singers perform at the better Karoakes. So the only difference is that you don't have live music - which eliminates paying the players. When I was networking with local bar bands, I found that most weren't about the music anyway. It was easier for the predominately male performers to "pull chicks" by playing someone else's songs made popular by commercial radio, To be honest, I have found that most of those who care whether the music is played live are musicians themselves - which is of course the minority. If I'm running a night club, I'm not worried about the tastes of the minority - but of the majority. It's a money driven business. If venues are using music to draw patrons, they still have to pay the PROs. I don't think that because the market is dwindling for live players, there's going to be less people learning how to play musical instruments. Device addiction is more of a threat to that. Artists who love their art will still learn to play music on whatever instruments they want. They just may wind up doing most of it in a recording studio instead of live as a profession.

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