I'm about a page late, but there are plenty other ways besides war in which people can mature.
Though that's one way.....I guess. I've known guys who went to war who were jackasses when they left and jackasses when they came back, so I don't know that it's a viable means to maturation after all. Maybe the generations who previously "grew up" faster/better just happened to be involved in wars, and correlation =/= causation.
To Droog's point about anybody being able to make music these days, you're correct. It's easier than ever and your barrier to entry is less than ever. Assuming anybody ever hears what you make. My favorite kind of music is not going to be less prevalent however, no matter how many people want to make it, because to a large degree it's not getting made without a budget. I don't care how much technology you have, a single person is highly unlikely to come up with the kind of intricate tracks I miss. It was primarily a group effort, and an effort of people who often went to school to learn their craft.
It'd be a bit like saying engineering tools and software is better than ever, so anybody can design things from their PC that could never have happened 40 years ago. Well, no...not without an engineering degree they probably won't. Joe Average is not going to get himself some slick software and design the next marvel without some education.
I was reading an article going around the internet a few months ago about how Guitar Center is restructuring their debt for the 3rd (I think) time in X number of years. It detailed why a once successful business no longer makes money. The hard facts are that people--mainly young people--aren't buying instruments anymore. The speculation comes in when determining why that is. Sources in the article pinned it on the lack of heroes these days, unlike days gone by when posters abounded on bedroom walls of Hendrix, Clapton, Eddie Van Halen and the like. They claimed popular music's move away from live instrumentation, coupled with lack of marketing and image associated with the drying up of record companies created a culture where teenagers don't idolize musicians the way they used to. Supposedly it all leads to kids not bugging their parents to go get them a bass guitar and an amp that can shake their neighbors walls. I dunno. Sounds plausible, but I only see the effect, I don't claim to know the cause.
There are still people who are master's at their craft--less than there used to be--and I wonder how they make their living. Are there less ways to be successful now but still X number of careers available and they happen to have them? Is there still room for everybody, and anybody who becomes good enough will attract paying customers? I wish I knew how these people make their living. It's fine to talk about people who will make their music whether anybody is paying them or listening to them or not. It's another thing to realize that in the real world, you're only going to reach certain levels if music is what you do, not a hobby you dick around with after your real job, and you're going to have to find a way to pay your bills. I actually hear people, occasionally, complain about the quality of musician available to listen to these days, and these same people are the ones who complain about having to pay anything to hear them, and by God if they loved it then why should they get paid for it, and if they loved it they'd do it whether they were getting paid or not. I wonder if they'd go to their job 8 hours a day for free. I'm thinking probably not. How much you enjoy something is irrelevant. If you're going to be a high-level musician, you're going to WORK for it.
