To me, it comes down to who you are as a person and as a musician.

Many truly artistic people I've met simply have a compulsion to create. More often than not, they have a love/hate relationship with performing, and do it because they have to. Many of them would rather work a day job than perform other people's songs.

Conversely, I know several excellent musicians who just enjoy performing. One lady, with a successful career in jazz standards, told me that the "worst thing" she ever had to do was write a piece of original music.

As for audiences...To put it in business terms: If you have a quality product, you can always find consumers. Personally, I've had more joy (creative and financial) in the original market than I ever had playing covers. But I know that I'm probably an exception in that respect.

Without doubt, a lot of session players are happy and well paid members of tribute bands, and it's a fact that they sell tickets. My experience is that the money factor can become increasingly more important than the music. And without proper balance, you usually run into trouble.

Ultimately, there's room for all of us - really.

Cheers,
Andy


http://www.reverbnation.com/andysalvanos