What are mainstream artists doing differently

[statue]

Selling their souls.

[Googly Smythe]

Marketing.

... and doing what they're told by their management team, and getting a good producer. If female, wear as little as possible.

[Lejurai]

What are ways to learn to produce like them? I have Fruity Loops would downloading FLP's and studying remakes be the best bet?

Eat
Sleep
Practise
Repeat

And copy the shit out of those who you consider "pro".
Learning in mind of course

[troxx]

Like others have said, its probably a lot to do with the amount of music/experience these guys have behind them. If everyone who wished to be the best they can be, was truly honest with themselves, have they really put in the 10,000 hours on average it takes to be classed as proficient in something? My guess is probably not.

Not saying everyone successful has hit that 10,000 goal, cos' luck and being in the right place at the right time is a factor sometimes also. Also if it's mainstream music your writing for, it better be catchy or have a good hook, else its a non starter.

BTW I read an interview with Calvin Harris he's been writing electronic music since his teens and I think it was an A&R scout who heard is music on MySpace, probs a good 10 years ago now.

Just keep plugging away and 'FINISH' tracks, doesnt matter how crap you think they are, just finish it and get it out the way, or you'll end up with thousands of 8 bar loop projects.

[Paree]

Rob swire (Pendulum/Knife Party) released the list of plugins he used 2 years ago.

Incredibly talented producer and one of the bests in modern era.

[acYm]

they spend more money on ghost producers and social media marketing than studio gear, that's for sure. you have to see those guys as businessmen, not artists.

[Aleatoriac]

The rich and famous are my guinea pigs. They get it first when it's still a beta.

Because I'm patient (and better ) I get it when it works perfectly, and I've learned from all their mistakes.

Kneel.

[Bojmir Raj Raj]

Better quality drugs than we proles, that's for sure!

[Ahoojidao]

They make moosic with their ghost friends and accrue the cash ta make moer moosic.

PEAS!

[bronxsound]

^ as rightly picked up, they buy or they are given music material they stick their face/ass to. i suppose being shameless and thick skinned helps to get to this point to certain extent.

[Aloysius]

Devil worship. Stripping. Sticking their tongues out. Twerking. Race baiting. Etc.

[shonky]

You're better off asking "what are they doing the same?"

The Calvin Harris tune earlier takes familiar sounds from many earlier tunes (kinda sniggered at the "Eye of the Tiger" guitar sound), has a fairly straightforward harmonic structure, has a few basic vocal hooks and the melody doesn't sound that different to synth lines from any smash prog house tune since the 90s. I think the only slightly unusual sound design on there is the out of tune synth sound during the intro. Have some concept of dynamics (i.e. start minimal, build-up, strip away elements, bang them all in again for maximum impact on the chorus, especially the second or third one where people's attention span is becoming depleted) and then shoot some irrelevant video at massive expense to watch while embracing the groundbreaking familiarity of it all.

Oh and make sure that the lyrics are something to do with some sort of relationship difficulty, worked wonders for Adele.

I think that the reason much of this music makes it big is because it doesn't push too many boundaries, people like what they're comfortable with and can relate to, and mostly just want to sing or dance along (with that particular song, doubt anyone would give it a second listen if Calvin Harris' name wasn't attached - branding is quite important too). Not my thing but nothing particularly wrong in that for those that like it. You could argue it's always been that way but there are periods where experimentation and new ideas come to the fore, others where people just want sounds they know, most eras being a bit of a mix of both.

[4damind]

Experience... and this needs a lot of finished and released songs. That's why you rarely see this guys hanging around in forums. But most of them are also very talented to listen to already successful stuff to find out why this was successful and yes, they don't try to reinvent the wheel.

But it's also no secret that they often don't work alone and having other guys for lyrics, writing songs, producing etc. Sometimes the artist is only the performer of the song and the big guys in the background are the producers. A good example is the old hit factory from the 80s Stock/Aitken/Waterman or also Trevor Horn. This guys are so talented to produces mainstream songs (and often repeat working ideas again and again) that they searching more for new faces/talented singers.

[VariKusBrainZ]

They plagiarise a genre

[Aloysius]

Michael Jackson - Thriller

Wikipedia

Personnel as listed in the album's liner notes are:

Tom Bahler – Synclavier (track 5)
Brian Banks – synthesizer (track 4), synthesizer programming (2)
Michael Boddicker – synthesizers (tracks 1–2), Emulator (6–9), Vocoder (8)
Bruce Cannon – effects (track 4)
Ndugu Chancler – drums (tracks 2, 6, 8 )
Paulinho da Costa – percussion (tracks 1, 7)
David Foster – synthesizers (track 3), synthesizer arrangements (3)
Gary Grant – trumpet (tracks 1–2, 4), flugelhorn (1–2, 4)
Nelson Hayes – bathroom stomp board (track 1)
Howard Hewett – background vocals (track 8 )
Jerry Hey – trumpet (tracks 1–2, 4), flugelhorn (1–2, 4), horn arrangements (1–2, 4), string arrangements (3, 6), strings conductor (3)
Bunny Hull – background vocals (tracks 1, 8 )
James Ingram – background vocals (tracks 1, 8 ), Portasound keyboard (8), handclaps (8), musical arrangements (8)
Janet Jackson – background vocals (track 8 )
La Toya Jackson – background vocals (track 8 )
Michael Jackson – co-producer (tracks 1, 3, 5-6), lead vocals (all tracks), drum case beater (track 5), bathroom stomp board (1), background vocals (1, 4–6), handclaps (8 ), vocal arrangements (1, 3, 5–6), rhythm arrangements (1, 5–6), horn arrangements (1), synthesizer arrangements (6)
Paul Jackson – guitar (tracks 5, 8–9)
Louis Johnson – bass guitar (tracks 1, 3, 6, 8–9), handclaps (8 )
Quincy Jones – producer (all tracks), rhythm arrangements (tracks 1, 3, 5), vocal arrangements (3), musical arrangements (8 )
Becky Lopez – background vocals (tracks 1, 8 )
Jerry Lubbock – strings conductor (track 6)
Steve Lukather – guitar (tracks 3, 5, 7), bass guitar (5), musical arrangements (7)
Anthony Marinelli – synthesizer programming (tracks 2, 4)
Paul McCartney – lead vocals (track 3)
David Paich – synthesizers (tracks 2, 7, 9), piano (3), rhythm arrangements (3), musical arrangements (7)
Dean Parks – guitar (tracks 3, 6)
Greg Phillinganes – keyboards (track 2), synthesizers (1–2, 4–6, 8 ), Rhodes (1, 3, 5-6, 9), synthesizer programming (8), handclaps (8)
Jeff Porcaro – drums (tracks 3, 5, 7, 9)
Steve Porcaro – synthesizers (tracks 5, 7, 9), synthesizer programming (2–3, 5, 7), musical arrangements (7)
Vincent Price – voice-over (track 4)
Steven Ray – bathroom stomp board (track 1), handclaps (8)
Bill Reichenbach – trombone (tracks 1–2, 4)
Greg Smith – Synergy (track 5), synthesizer (6)
Bruce Swedien – recording engineer (All tracks), audio mixer (All tracks), effects (4)
Chris Shepard – vibraslap (track 5)
Rod Temperton – synthesizers (track 4), rhythm arrangements (2, 4, 9), vocal arrangements (2, 4, 9), synthesizer arrangements (2, 4, 9)
Eddie Van Halen – guitar solo (track 5)
Jerry Vinci – concertmaster (track 3)
Julia Waters – background vocals (track 1)
Maxine Waters – background vocals (track 1)
Oren Waters – background vocals (track 1)
David Williams – guitar (tracks 1–2, 4, 6)
Larry Williams – saxophone (tracks 1–2, 4), flute (1–2, 4)
Bill Wolfer – keyboards (track 5), synthesizer (1, 6), synthesizer programming (6)

Nevermind all the studios and all the gear etc, verses some guy/gal in their bedroom with a laptop and some plugins.