An emerging phenomenon that could make my previous suggestion even more workable is the way ASCAP and BMI are approaching small venues and in some cases shutting them down with back payments for licensing.
This is causing some venues to stop having live music... but others simply require bands to play original non-ASCAP/BMI music.
Behavior tends to follow an incentive, and if somebody creates an incentive for live bands to play original music, they will. Then more will, when they see that the only bands getting gigs are playing originals.
If this happens (and its already happening around here) it could create a whole new market for song writers, as established bands rush to compile a song list of enough originals to play a 3-4 hour set. It would be tough for the average band to write 40 GOOD songs in short order. But if some outlet existed where song writers hooked up with working class performers, they could pick 40 songs from a library and a decent band could learn them in fairly short order.
Seems to me there's an opportunity here for somebody who's a lot better than I am at writing songs.