I think archer alone as a stand alone class would be very limited in what you can do with it, i like the idea of bard buffing with music but maybe not with bows, would like it more if it had its own instrument/s and maybe give archer a better fitting job. Alternatively, they could make archer equip different kinds of weapons in offhand (like the paladin shield) so you can have the choice of choosing bard abilities by equipping a bard instrument or other abilities with something like arrow types or arrow coatings for more DoT damage or higher potency, but they will never do this cause their main route is that every ability will be useable and you don't have to sacrifice some for others.

Bard as a raiding job is fine it's viable at least but generally doesn't feel as fun as other ranged jobs to me especially the songs, i like the idea of passive buffs during the entire fight but the songs doesn't feel as impactive to the job itself.