Bob,
I do not agree with most what you said. I am sorry. Simple reason we are talking about completely different animals here. It seems you are specifically interested in this:
"I will know what's happening in the music biz" You talk about "trends", and I am talking about the vibe. It takes one talented artist/band to break the mold you theorize on. These "trends" are changing with the blow of the wind. Vibe remains mainly unaffected (through centuries)

Jazz is not dead, silly! It is everywhere, just taking different forms. "Matter is neither created nor destroyed." smile


But most importantly, you as a musician should focus on what is in your head/feelings instead of chasing the tail of the Dragon (that might taste pretty awful, even if you catch it). Unless.. you play only specific set of covers (not originals) to specific group of people in specific region. Then, it is more like meditation / Yoga.

Bob, good (quality) music is not for everyone. It never was. Most folks are OK with general FM. Good music has almost NOTHING to do with musical business. I am sure you are aware of this. I guess it's time to turn back to the topic.

I believe PG has a very special strata in music arranging/recording. In it's own way is
very far ahead of most competitors. I rather skip a year of RT's in exchange for major software cleanup/tune-up. I am couple of years in and I only explored about 25% of what is in the BOX. Content is huge!

My "future" and present request is related to modernizing and tightening the software, GUI and adding several big MUST HAVE features that had been discussed in great detail in "Wishlists", so it is enjoyable to discover and do interesting things with all the content that is already in place.