OK, time for my opinion.
DJs are not musicians, although they do share some of the same 'crowd pacing' talents.
A musician is a person who plays a musical instrument. There are bad musicians and good musicians. You don't have to play first violin in the Cleveland Orchestra to be a musician.
The radio, CD player, records, etc. are not musical instruments, but methods to reproduce what musicians have already played.
Singers are in the grey zone. True the voice is the first musical instrument, but on the other hand, the singer doesn't have to know anything about music. I consider singers who have applied themselves to their craft musicians, but I don't expect everyone to agree.
People who create music by splicing together loops that others create or doing the equivalent in BiaB are indeed making music. But are the musicians? They are in the grey zone to. They are to art what a person who creates collages are to a fine artist. Are the collage people really artists? It depends who you ask.
Of course you can be the collage artist in music and also play a musical instrument. Just because you use BiaB doesn't necessarily exclude you from the 'club'.
A professional musician is one who makes his/her living or the predominant part of his/her income playing music.
A part-time pro is one who makes the majority of his/her income doing something other than making music, but also plays for money.
An amateur musician plays music but receives no compensation for it.
None of the above definitions of pro, part-time pro, or amateur has anything to do with how good or bad of a musician that person is. I've heard some amateurs that play wonderfully and some full-time pros that are basically hacks.
Not of the above definitions have anything to do with what the musician is playing. It takes a musician to play Shostakovitch's Leningrad Symphony (No.7), Mustang Sally, Hey Good Lookin', Stormy Monday Blues, Sugar Town, Beethoven Sonata No. 8 Op. 13 (Pathetique), The Hustle, or Folsom Prison Blues. Some kinds of music require more technical ability than others, but that's just the way it is.
Songwriters and a composers write music. This usually involves also being a musician because it's difficult to write music without it.
I think it's a shame that schools drop music programs. I could go on a rant about what they do promote instead, but that's a different thread.
I'm fortunate to grow up in an age where a professional musician who had a decent amount of talent could make a living playing music. I see that it's much more difficult now.
But the world changes, it's more difficult for Accountants (CPAs), The Post Office, Blacksmiths, Automobile Muffler Shops, TV and Appliance Repairmen, Longshoremen, Small Business Owners, Small Farmers, and so on.
The demand for live music is indeed less than it was, and it covers everything from the Symphony Orchestras to the local Bar Band. There is more competition, the DJs, Karaoke, Sports Bar and that salesman in your living room, the TV.
What's the answer? How to get the public more interested in live music again? I don't know how to get them away from their TV sets and back into the bars where they belong, and if I did have the answer, I'd go into the consulting business and make some serious dollars.
Insights and incites by Notes
Dansk
Deutsch - Windows
Español
Français - Windows
Italiano - Windows
Nederlands
Polski
Português
Svenskt
русский
Japanese
Simplified Chinese
Traditional Chinese
Korean