I think what’s at risk are these activities as part of ordinary—not elite—work culture, and the social value of hobbyist-level efforts. Similar to how mass reproduction of recorded music wrecked those two things in that area.
You’ll always be able to play so-so violin in your basement, just for yourself. What’s lost is the social and economic value—of participation in one or more arts being part of everyday life for normal people, and part of a tapestry of creative activity. Even if it’s compromised by commerce, or by your family wanting to sing “jingle bells” around the piano, not hear Mozart.
I worry about the same thing happening, but for writing (which is already on its last legs—paying-the-bills creative writing has been a mostly-elite career for decades, because the market’s dried up) and visual arts.
You’ll always be able to play so-so violin in your basement, just for yourself. What’s lost is the social and economic value—of participation in one or more arts being part of everyday life for normal people, and part of a tapestry of creative activity. Even if it’s compromised by commerce, or by your family wanting to sing “jingle bells” around the piano, not hear Mozart.
I worry about the same thing happening, but for writing (which is already on its last legs—paying-the-bills creative writing has been a mostly-elite career for decades, because the market’s dried up) and visual arts.