One of my goals is to append my income with the writing of commercial music that would be purchased for use in other folks projects. Currently I use Pond5 and AudioJungle.net as a venue for exposure. So far I've made some money, but not as much as I'd like.
When I've been writing this music, I've pretty much just made what came out of my shallow subconscious, fine tuned it and uploaded it. I gave no note to what the current trends were.
Now I'm changing my 'tune' and I've given a shot at copping various aspects of the tunes that are selling well. Hell, the Beatles did it, why can't I? As Picasso said, "Good artists borrow, great artists steal." I'm not sure what I'll be doing, borrowing or stealing, but I will give other's work more credence than I have before.