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All good points, Phil. The reality I’ve seen is that live musical performing groups are disappearing. You mentioned jazz ensembles, they are going the way of the dodo and Latin. Most of the remaining ensembles play music written/arranged by members of the ensemble. I think there are far more arrangers and composers than there are end users that could perform their works (which is so sad).
Advances in computer technology have made it very easy for people to produce very high quality tv/film music. And I’ve learned that many of the people making six figures a year at this have little to no formal music training. Many can’t even read music, they just know what sounds good. Mixing in the box has replaced many studios. Sample libraries and high quality .VST’s have replaced many quality musicians. I’ve got friends at the top of the performing side of the business and rare is the person that makes a quality living at it. So many are struggling and worried. If you can break into the inner studio musician circles in LA, NY and Nashville you can stay busy and do well. But that’s a small group, and there are thousands, if not millions, of musicians out there trying to make it.
My advice to my two musically gifted teenagers has been this: Music is an amazing passion that can fill your soul for life with constant challenges and joys, but rare is the person that can make it a comfortable career. (there are always exceptions) Find a way to earn a quality living so that you can fund your passion for music and truly get the most pleasure out of it, instead of forcing yourself to take that bar gig at the airport Holiday Inn to cover your rent payment. I enjoy my technology day job and use it to fund my home studio, which gives me immense pleasure as I can write very day for joy instead of need.
I may be a bit jaded, but I think anyone majoring in music today is making a huge mistake. I graduated from North Texas in the 80s and if not for the computer skills I developed between gigs after that, I would probably be destitute, divorced and supporting Bernie Sanders because of his promises of free stuff. 😉 I was the first person in my family to go to college, my parents had no idea what to tell me about school or debt for that matter. I paid for college with student loans and scholarships.
I recently heard someone say “the music industry is a very hard place to grow old.” He is correct. Chasing a dream is one thing, but the odds of making it big are slim, and to think that it requires talent and hard work is short sighted. It also requires luck, timing, network connections among other things. Do we encourage kids to major in sports so they can make the NFL? Yes. Should we? No. There will always be skilled people that make it based on raw talent. But for each one of them there are thousands of others that chased that dream and now struggle because they didn’t have a solid Plan B. Life isn’t fair, but it is what you make of it. Personal accountability and the choices you make are important.