The "Genie" is out of the bottle as far as the music industry is concerned,and it will never go back in,radio shows are only the tip of the ever declining iceberg.iam not converse with the country scene or the radio scene in the u.s.a.but, iam with music in general.As i see it ,Karaoke,file-sharing,free downloading,the internet,singers using backing tracks,reality tv shows,stick all that, plus more, in the musical melting pot..music is just becoming another de-based commodity...people are being spoon fed mediocrity,and the pity is ,most folk don't know that is the case....or don't care..the main "honing" ground
on this side of the pond for new bands ,groups, artistes etc,are the pubs and clubs...but they are dying a slow lingering death..live music is dying with it....everybody wants the instant "fix" nowadays,nobody wants to go on the learning curve,reality tv makes it look so easy,which in turn has spawned what i call the "i'pod mob"....stick in your jack"Adaptor" and away you go...look out Frank or Whitney..i dare say and hope,that music goes around full cycle,and "live" music will come back to the mainstream,but as technology makes for everything musical being available at the click of a mouse,the industry has a real battle on it's hands..As for the Songwriting side of things,well Marc says it on the money,your creative juices must overide everything else,songwriting must be in the blood,if it aint...forget it!....i have had a fair bit of success with my writing(not that i can retire)but i keep writing because i want to write,knowing full well,iam swimming against the tide,but salmon swim against the tide...perhaps a songwriter is born with a built in optimisom,who knows?....but i aint under any illusions,this business was always hard....but in today's market,it is akin to climbing Mount Everest with a toothpick.
All The Best .....Terry....