I think what this article is saying isn't so much that cover bands are "ruining" music but rather suffocating the local scene. I completely agree with this. People love to go out and dance or bob their heads to the tunes they know. It's so easy to make money that way. Even in the jazz scene people tend to want to hear "standards", commonly known jazz tunes. You start laying out some Pat Metheney, Roy Hargrove or Charlie Hunter, much more contemporary material, and you can lose much of your audience. Too bad, really.

cover bands arnt killing good music, if anything, its supporting it. Led Zeppelin hasnt been on tour in 30 years! but you know what, i can still say i saw Communication Breakdown live, it may have not been Zeppelin but it sounded just like i thought it would.

original music is everywhere, you just gotta know how to look for it.

I don't think cover bands are killing original music. Most bands are perfectly capable of killing themselves, by writing bad, uninteresting music.

Don't know about America, but I am appalled by the musical skills of local bands over here.

A lot of the local bands here are kick ass.

Go to Austin and get owned by the local live music scene.

I've seen cover bands I'd rank as better than the original, but then, they should be writing their own stuff instead.