The problem as I see it is clutter. There aren't fewer good musicians today, there's just more bad ones. Technology has made it possible for anyone, and I mean anyone, to make a semblance of music and therefore a CD. I get so annoyed with people who want to trade CD's. After all, they have a CD too, so they are equals, Not So! 19 times out of 20 they get the better end of the deal.
In days gone by, only serious people could make an album; because they couldn't do it with their PC and put it up for free download on some crappy internet site.

Have any of you heard the NPR show called "From the Top"? Students 18 years old and under doing fantastic renditions of classical works. Yes, indeed, the musicians still exist; it's just the haystack is getting bigger and bigger and the needles harder to find.