You sound just like me, Davey. I took some heat on another site for saying exactly what you said about production music. Some people simply don't believe that a large corporation can run a mediocre product up the chart simply by having an effective marketing campaign. That's because some people missed the entire twentieth century apparently. But it's just a simple fact. The music "business" is about business. It's about selling units. That's all. Stars like N'Sync and Britney Spears are products that some really talented producer dreamed up and then he went out and found some flesh puppets to play the parts. That marketing guy or marketing team really does have something going on. You could even call it an art form. Not the music. But conceptualizing the package and putting it together. It's what Hollywood's been doing forever. They don't need art. They need a tolerable product that they can market to folks who are more than happy to be told what to watch and listen to. This isn't sour grapes on my part. More power to em, I say. It's just not something I'm interested in. There are plenty of really good songwriters out there today. Sometimes you have to get off the beaten path to find them, but they're out there. People who write from the heart. People who are trying to create art and not a product.
The guy who critiqued my song for TAXI said "Give us a straightforward story in simple language we can understand". Screw that. I'm not in the business of telling people things they already know without having to think about it. Critiques are fine when you're learning the fundamentals of songwriting. After that it's best to listen to yourself. Compare your own tunes to the great tunes you love and admit where you come up short.
Good luck, Davey.

Frank

http://www.soundclick.com/frankwilliamson