The great majority of songs were never composed or written by persons whom we would generally describe as "singer/songwriters" but I know what you mean.

Of course, people have always composed new songs and there is a need for this to continue. However, as I said, the problem is that it's now becoming the norm to write songs for the sake of things and it's regarded as a genre in itself. So new writers will gain all or most of their inspiration from other song writers as opposed to the "tradition" or other genres of music in general.

Many start off churning out loads of songs when they can barely strum three chords which I feel is ridiculous.

Also, the trend, especially in pop, rock etc circles is for all would be performers to aim for a repertoire of entirely original material.... this might be a good move as far as royalties are concerned but if the quality is poor, what's the point?

However, if it goes on like this, the only people who will end up performing the songs will be the writers themselves and the songs will die with them.

So, I'd rather if people composed original material a little more sparingly and also *respected* that which is already there, i.e. whether it be traditional or good recent work from other composers.