Where would anyone get the impression that being an artist ISN'T hard work...?

Being an unsuccessful artist is the easy part... Succeeding ALWAYS takes a LOT of work. Nowadays, record companies, A&R people and promoters expect a VERY high standard of demo. Almost CD-ready. The days of handing someone a cassette have LONG gone (to all but the unbelievably lucky).

In the real world, songwriters use DAWs, WSs, arrangers, and everything else available, and still are not guaranteed success...