Unless people can have a career at it it isn’t going to happen, and I mean beyond playing live all the time. Records aren’t selling any more so where is the drive to write songs? One could play in a good tribute band and make a paycheck on a regular touring schedule. I went to see George Lynch recently and hes still good but he’s 68 and there are young guys who grew up learning his riffs and can play just like him…it isn’t that t young guys arent as good, its just they had someone else write the riffs they mimick…there is no room for the music to evolve if no one is writing anything new.
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Great answer. My view is unless there is incentives (million dollar contracts - fame etc) then I can’t see how it would happen. In the 80’s even though virtually no-one achieved that relatively speaking, there was at least the hope for that. Kind of like winning the lottery - now the lottery is not even being run!
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Still feel NFTs are part of the answer with fractional ownership, backer royalties etc. Basically an extension of kickstarter. Something like www.fandefi.com
Disclaimer: I was hired to write that code for fandefi. But it’s still a good model, the the free lunch speculators of course have destroyed the crypto scene, sigh, we cannot have nice things, passive income vultures never cease to exploit 
Yep, completely agree!
As much as I have loved all the music available at my fingertips with the power of streaming, can it be argued that anything has been more damaging to the music industry?
Honestly, I think artists are going to have to fight back against it and stop being taken for a ride. It would be nice if it was actually financially worth putting time and money into your music again 
Fight back with what, though? The distribution model has irrevocably changed and won’t go back. Sure, they can battle for a bigger piece of the streaming fees. But the idea of an arena-tour rock band (or most any band/artist) is dead and buried.
And so what?
It’s never been financially worth putting time and money into original music. Ever. Those that ‘make it’ essentially hit the lottery - or would be playing music even if they had to live in a box, or sleep on bar room tables (as SRV did when he was a teenager).
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In this video (which is a sort of promo for one of her courses), Mary Spender gives a nice discussion of what are the typical opportunities for the “modern” musician (I guess the main focus here is on musicians who want to make a living via social media).
TLDR: making it as a “stadium filler” band has always been extremely hard (and it perhaps is harder now). However, nowadays there’s infinitely more opportunities for “middle income” musicians, who won’t get stinky rich, but could still make a decent living out of their craft.
I’m not trying to advertise her course, I just like the way she discusses the topic.
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Personally, I think artists should group together and remove all their content from streaming services.
Even in the early 2000s when I was starting to get into music as a kid there was more of a goal to get a record deal. I remember a Rick Beato video where he talked about all through the 90s, young bands he would work with had record deals, shortly after this period this almost completely stopped. (Not that record deals are the be-all and end-all but they can certainly make a difference)
That’s probably true but it’s okay if artists want to be paid for their work 
I feel like this miscategorises lots of passionate musicians who just don’t see the value in creating records anymore i.e. Blues Saraceno moving to mainly sync work
Blues Saraceno is 51. His Rock Icon opportunities left decades ago.
I think he’s an example of someone who figured out how to make a living in music besides trying to be the Next Big Thing. Pete Thorn, Tim Pierce, Tommy Tedesco, Steve Lukather (beyond Toto) etc.
What about from the other end of the spectrum, people who are Rock Icon’s who showcase having some financial incentive? Here’s a famous Ritchie Blackmore quote about Jeff Beck:
“I don’t put myself on Jeff Beck’s level, but I can relate to him when he says he’d rather be working on his car collection than playing the guitar.”
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I’ve thought a lot about this and I think the only way to get a next “Van Halen” type guitar icon would be for someone who’s decently talented, a best of the best personality and for some company or group to finance marketing that person beyond all hell. We already see tons of elite talented guitar players all over, so it’s not that you have to be soooooo talented. Some flashy talent and then a very big, catchy personality that gets financially backed somehow. Sort of how that guy Liver King exploded out of nowhere. If I understood correctly, he was basically used as marketing tool for higher ups for profit until he got caught. He still made a killing and makes his own living.
EVH was far more than just talented. He changed music.
No amount of marketing budget can do that.
I agree that he was very talented and creative and a pioneer of such. My point is he wasn’t the most talented in terms of just pure skill. He also was part of a different era where there was still plenty of guitar discovery, album selling, and sold out tours. I was making a hypothesis for our current times. My point (to further clarify) is that now there are plenty of ppl talented enough or even more so to play Van Halen stuff and more. So it would need to be a very good personality along with tremendous marketing to reach that level. Or eventually someone will just discover something new in rock and roll or guitar
I think its a combination of being talented and also an exceptional stage performer… I think Edward Van Halen had all of that wrapped into one. Him and David Lee Roth put on an awesome show. The two of them were excellent front men and the rest of the band was great also. For example there are alot of “bedroom players” who can sit and riff, but try running around on stage and playing the same rifs while running around…although Ill admit its a different time now,maybe people wouldn’t care if someone stood like a statue riffing or even sitting at a live show…?
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Neither were any number of influential players. Jimmy Page gets hammered for his sloppy playing…Hendrix had an…interesting relationship with the beat…
If technical savvy meant anything to listeners, Shawn Lane would’ve won a hundred Grammies.
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Yes hence why i said in my initial statement, “decently talented,” lol
Personally, I would rank Eddie’s technical abilities pretty highly. Those tapes from the '78 tour are just as terrifying to me as anything Yngwie would be doing a few years later. Both players in their respective primes give me the same vibe of having any level of technical ability at their disposal that they wanted. Of course they both chose very specific things that didn’t really overlap. But if you just look at the purely mechanical stuff, like Eddie’s shuffle or his ridiculous forearm tremolo, you definitely think, ok this is one of those special people who can figure out the techniques as a teenager that took me decades to pick apart.
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I agree and I really wasn’t trying to discredit Eddie in any way. I was really just trying to make the point that I don’t think in current times it would come down to technical ability as much as personality, marketing and situation (In a very very basic nutshell lol). Let me try to explain it this way. Let’s pretend The Rock was a pretty good guitar player; like good enough to play some ACDC tunes or crazy train whatever. His personality and financial situation to reach so many people would put him in a position to reach a guitar status
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What if that actually happened but he crossed over into the country genre and he changed his name to “The Country”?
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Johnny Depp plays guitar, but I don’t think anyone takes it seriously. I know the band is Hollywood Vampires, but I’ve never sought out and listened to any of their tunes. I can’t recall any newer rock music that caught my ear. I think the l
Most recent that I’ve been into was the album " Firepower" by Judas Priest from 2018. I do enjoy the guitar work on that.
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Firepower is an excellent Priest album. I feel the songwriting is superb. Way better than that 80’s crap like Turbo Lover or whatever.
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