Might seem odd but...What's the lay of the land for Musicians/Songwriters in the 2020s?

caesura

Hi folks,

I’m trying to navigate the landscape here in the mid-2020s compared to when I was last actively active in the music scene in Ireland (around 15 years ago).

I’ve a number of different projects I’d like to get up and running or at least explore, some more urgently than others.

But the thing is I’ve no idea where to start? (Back in the day it was flyers in Music Maker or posts here on boards and then myspace and Thumped….yep it’s been that long…what it might be now I’ve no idea).

Anyway I’ve two vectors I’m looking towards at the moment. One is simple and the other has many spokes.

(1) I’m thinking of doing cover gigs for a bit (the few quid and getting back to performing) and I’m trying to see if it’s worth my while partnering up or if I should just go solo.

(2) I’m actually a pretty good songwriter and always have been to the point that (again back when I was active) I was never short of people who wanted to work with me and thankfully I seem to have kept that ability despite getting closer to the half century mark so I’d like to look at maybe putting something together with a singer (a kind of acoustic pop-rock or folk/country etc type thing - Stevie Nicks, KT Tunstall - I mostly worked with female singers in the past - thought I’d be happy to work with a male singer as well) and this would be with a view to working with someone who actively wants to launch a career and is willing to work towards it but doesn’t have the songs. But does anyone even care about that kind of music anymore?

[Note:I have songs and music that I want to perform myself as well but that’s just a personal thing I’d like to do at some open mic nights if I can find any that don’t allow phones or the like as I’ve no interest in drawing attention to myself.]

I know that’s a long preamble but I suppose the questions I’m asking are:

(A) Where do people connect outside of ‘influencer’ mediums - or is that it now? And…

(B) Does anyone even care about this kind of music (acoustic guitar based: rock/pop/country/folk)?

Again I know there’s a lot there but does anyone have any advice or tips regarding the lay of the land as we head into 2026?

Any tips hugely appreciated!

Thanks all!😊

Ps. A bit of a search led me to something called Bandmix? Is that a popular thing? It seems to have lots of musicians happy to put photos up but no music files in the add music section so I'm sceptical...but again I've no idea.