There will always be some great songwriters around (whether or not they get commercial exposure). The main point of this thread...I think...is that the music business itself is corrupt and every bit as bad as Joni says it is, and that it has gotten steadily worse in the last few decades. I believe the main reason for that has been the influence of television on the music business, and the dominance of a few huge marketing empires in homogenizing and controlling the "product", as they so cynically call what was once considered an art form.

- LH