I got lucky when I decided to learn the guitar. It's popularity was just getting started and I was on the ground floor. Oh, the guitar had been around for a long time prior but was eclipsed by other instruments. But it was the featured instrument in the sixties. Playing the guitar made me feel like I belonged.
In the 70's I started learning to play classical music on my guitar. I was too old to become a concert artist and I knew it. But the music drew me in. Also, I had no real interest in touring by then. That urge had died a natural death with the birth of my children. So teaching full time became a logical choice.
Classical guitar was on the rise. The oldest degree program in the country was less than ten years old. I was asked to teach at college without a degree because no one (or nearly no one) had a degree in guitar back then. They needed people like me to get the ball rolling. I got lucky again.
Times change however. While the guitar is still popular, the ability to make music with a computer is taking over. Talented, well trained classical guitarists are abundant. Electric guitar sales are way down nationally and have been for several years. The nay-sayers are claiming that, while the guitar had a great run, its days are numbered. But they're looking in the wrong direction.
Music belongs to the common folk and if you take away their ability to recreate the music they like, they will always find a way to take it back. If it takes a stage full of people and several truck loads of equipment to play a song, they will change the rules of the game or even the game itself. Early rock, doo-wop, punk, and rap are all examples of the regular people changing the game.
Lately I've noticed a trend among the tweens to want to play acoustic guitar instrumental versions of their favorite songs. Not jazz versions, but truthful versions that sound like the original. This trend seems to be on the rise. My students are constantly asking me to show them how to arrange a particular song and will often give me links to videos they like. Fortunately I've been doing arrangements like this for years. I got lucky again.
I learned a long time ago that if you want to know the future of the music biz you won't find it with the middle-aged successful music mogul. Spend a little time with a disenfranchised 13 year old. The things they are interested in today may well de-throne the kings in a few years. Lucky for me they seem to be interested in what I'm teaching.