Its 9 and a half years into the 21st century and music is in a precarious position. Album/record sales have reached an all time low, no small credit to the availability of digital downloads, both legal and otherwise. Musicians have it a little bit easier than Record companies because they can get their income from playing gigs and selling fan stuff, but record companies and labels...Not doing so well.

Basically here are some issues for music

1. The digital realm: Should digital downloads remain legal? And what about the illegal ones, like Limewire. Should they remain free? some believe that music should be free while others believe that there needs to be some degree of restraint to keep the music industry breathing.

2. Bigger risks: With the economy so bad as it is, and with many economic advisers predicting 2009 to be no better, there are fewer and fewer musicians nowadays. Also, there are fewer and fewer gigs to book. Being a professional musician is, in reality, a really low paying job unless you're one of the 1% who get lucky and make it big.

3. The genre of music: Music has always gone through trends. During the age of classical music there was Baroque, romantic, and classical periods. In the 20th century, there was jazz, blues, psychedelic rock, heavy metal, hair metal, thrash metal, grunge, and now power pop. Today, pop and hip-hop music dominate the charts. What will the next prominent genre be, and what about the musicians who play the not do prominent?

Me and my friend are planning on being professional musicians in the future. We have a plan for it. Both of us know the unrealistic status of the musician as the "dream job". But, these issues concern us more than anything.

Hey everyone, might as well introduce myself. I found out about the Gang of Five through the LBT funsite, and it seemed like an awesome site to talk about anything at all. I've been posting and nosing around a bit, especially in the LBT RPG project forum.  From what I've seen, everyone's really friendly.

If theres one thing you should know about me, its that I love music. More than anything else, probably. I play the guitar, piano, keyboard, bass, baritone horn, and trumpet. My favorite genre is classic rock, and my favorite bands are Led Zeppelin, The Who, Cream, Pink Floyd, The Clash, and The Beatles. Favorite album is Physical Graffiti.

The original Land Before Time was the first movie I ever saw, so obviously the series is really special to me.

My favorite LBT character is definitely Spike. Its completely impossible not to love that guy. He makes those funny grunts, never talks, and does awesome scat singing. After that would be Littlefoot, Chomper, Cera, Ali, and Ducky.

Politically independent, more liberal than conservatist though

Right, so, hope to see you guys around the forums.