Members gtrbass Posted January 30, 2007 Members Posted January 30, 2007 I'm sure they are on some level. Maybe more so now than ever. The A-list is quite small, and then again so are the other tiers as well because there is less work overall than say 20 years ago. The "demo work" is gone (except for maybe the Nashville songwriting community). I'd venture that it's been replaced with "project record" work as people tend to lean toward releasing their "demos" on CD through CD Baby or something. Film/TV/jingle work is a now fraction of what it was for instrumentalists. The self contained composer/producer/performer model is the standard. He/she may bring in a skilled outside player or two for coloration and embellishment though. Even big orchestral dates are now often outsourced to Eastern Europe due to the costs. The days of "name" session guys being in huge demand are pretty much over. Guys like Steve Lukather and Simon Phillips don't see the number of calls they used to. For example, it used to be like an insurance policy to use names for backing a singer/songwriter's new record because people at billboard, R&R, etc took notice, especially when you were launching a record by a new artist. It's different now. What's different is this. There used to be establishment oriented values in music where a certain segment of the business promoted "familiarity" through using players with a track record. Today that familiarity is often acheived with software, loops and samples. Plus you don't need to pay Simon Phillips to get it right the first time when you can slice and dice a flawed performance by an inexperienced drummer in PT. I'm not saying this is the best practice, it is the current practice for better or worse.
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