https://www.amazon.co.uk/Art-Fear-Obser ... 714&sr=8-1
I think "focus on melody" is an attempt to solve a common problem by doing the exact opposite, which then creates more problems. In popular composition there's often an over-emphasis on chords. Block chords. This is probably because the guitar facilitates that. Previously we would have worked with harmony, but in the form of counter-point, which is rooted in singing and therefore melody.
There's plenty of good stuff out there with little or no "melody". Writing melodies has been done very well for hundreds of years, it's gonna be hard to be original or better previous art. So don't even try to be original or better! As has been pointed out- imitation is valid.
So I think better advice would be- don't get too hung up on chords, but don't get hung up on melody either. Quite literally, don't get hung up on ANYTHING. Because anything can be the germ of an idea.
MOF wrote: What type of music do you want to compose, is it the catchy melody/theme tune or supportive mood music for a film?
In direct opposition to this idea: Brian Eno's "Music for Films" and "Music for Airports" and all of the subsequent ambient music genre. You probably don't like it, but people make careers out of that kind of music.
Writing for a non-existent film is a perfectly good catalyst for composition.
The Red Bladder wrote: That burning need to tell the world something is the foundation upon which art can be built.
I genuinely think you make a good point, and I'm not trying to knock it, but there is a caveat. It's A foundation. Not THE foundation. I think creative concepts in painting and sculpture are much further ahead than most music in this regard. Anything presented as art IS art, a concept first proposed (successfully) by Marcel Duchamp with his urinal in 1917. Frank Zappa was of the same "frame" of mind and he was among the most productive composers ever. So it's not gonna be pop, but it can be a successful approach. There doesn't need to be any message or ideal implied. That's the classical concept.