Sure there are still some reasonable paying jobs. The problem is that the industry has imploded and when once as a musician you could earn a living by playing alone, by the time I stopped 14 years ago, most pros were also teaching privately as well as playing… 14 years on there are even fewer jobs available. Lots of people chasing very few good jobs.

I absolutely agree about the cheap mentality that is prevalent in all walks of life. Also the Pop Idol culture devalues musicianship yet further. I guess these days everyone wants to be a singer.

Sadly though it seems that there’s more and more demand in this country for “cheap” with little or no regard for quality.

In our local rag some joker is offering £7 per hour to work weekends in a “rock school”. So all those years of training, thousands spent on equipment to earn £7, huuumm you can flip burgers with no skills for the minimum wage.

A well qualified, experienced pro should be charging IRO £35 - £40 per hour, I wonder how many parents would stump up that much?

Rich