It's funny, talking about all this gear has me questioning why I do music in the first place again. It used to be a lot of fun to explore, I could care less to play it out live since I could record my own album. But, these days I just don't care to ever play out live again. I'd rather make the music, film it being performed or film an abstract story alongside it, and release that. With the internet and everything mashing into one another, there is nothing "special" about a musician anymore unless it's beyond human, understated folk songwriting that has political intents, or just nice packaging for the teens. I guess nothing has changed except now everyone at a show is a portable camera and their own celebrity to themselves. So..now what is the motivation if the curiosity of exploring fresh music has dwindled?
I could write another song, but why would I? Who am I gonna show? What, put it on Facebook? Nah...FB don't give a f#ck.
You are hitting the nail in the head with your observations.
If you look carefully you'll see a lot of people doing their thing independently of bands or Record Companies. People just post their stuff on Youtube and seem to feel happy with it.
I also believe that is the most eminent future for music as well. Why bother with a 3rd party meddling in your creative process if you can do it in your own bedroom with the right tools and just post it on the internet for others to hear/see it [and make some money along the the way]? Take Moby as an example.
I never really cared about being in bands [though I did play with a couple of them for a very short while] and it's very troublesome if the members are not of the same mind set.
Instead of wasting money for an hour on some crappy rehearsal studio, I rather play with another individual in my home [or his/hers] and exchange ideas that way.
The most fun I ever had on my life as someone who plays an instrument was with a friend of mine [who moved abroad]. We used to go to his place, sit in silence, pick our guitars and each one would play something totally different from the other. In the end, and without any spoken word, our playing would intertwine to form one cohesive idea.
We did some rather fun stuff that way. It's also great to learn the others' own inclinations and it's always fun to try and figure out what the other is trying to do next and try to foresee it with your own playing.
If I had saved all the money I spent on fruitless rehearsals, I could have bought a ton of gear. lol.