> I have no doubt this is an effective way to end up with a bunch of finished tracks. But I can't help but feel that it is missing the point.

It depends what your goal is - if your goal is to have an enjoyable hobby, then yes, it's probably missing the point.

If your goal is to have the best outputs, then that might involve a different creative process.

If your goal is to make (good amounts of) money, then the popularity of your music is actually important. Writing music that will be popular is a skill in itself, which is probably a different skill to just writing the music that you find the most joy and satisfaction in writing. Writing music that brings you joy and hoping others find the same joy in it might work, but I suspect the musicians making the most money are often working hard to write what the market wants/accepts rather than just what brings them the most joy. There will be exceptions to every rule however.