Hey Music Peoples!

[Thorinair]

It's a PONY NEWS SITE, so why post news that ain't pony related?

Heck, I really liked this year's Qlimax anthem, but does that mean EqD has to post it? Many people just use pony backgrounds and titles on their videos, because they want the massive viewer input from EqD's watchers, even while their tracks have no relation to the pony fandom whatsoever.

Like my music? You have to understand the difference between non-pony music and pony INSPIRED music. I for instance get inspired by ponies to make music, and many others do as well. This just makes us look bad...

[Diss Order]

Then I guess your music too yes!

Seriously it ain't too freaking hard to make an actual pony song other than a 'pony inspired track' which can be any-fucking-thing :S... Make up your own pony lyrics, use a theme from one of the show songs or the BGM, and make a variation on it, use some show vocals, etc etc etc IT AIN'T HARD.

There's so many freaking places on the internet you can use to showcase your music, don't just dump every damn thing on a pony newssite. Just because ponies INSPIRED you, doesn't mean that it's pony fanmusic. Me and a lot of other people I know, are pretty fed up with that. <<< totally invalid argument, sounds familiar?

...This just makes us look bad...

You make YOURSELF look bad, because you use 'pony inspired' as an excuse to dump all your freaking pony-unrelated stuff on a pony-related newssite. (EDIT: I haven't listened to it, but I'm using you as an example because you say yourself that you work that way)

But hey, I still love you. Just cut the crap and stop giving Seth a hard time by whining about his policy while it's completely fair.

EDIT2: Why does it say I only edited it once, I edited this post like 6 times now.

[Thorinair]

You make YOURSELF look bad, because you use 'pony inspired' as an excuse to dump all your freaking pony-unrelated stuff on a pony-related newssite.

Sorry, but I find that to be a bit insulting on a personal level...

[Diss Order]

You bring up 'yourself' as an argument against mine (read: you made it personal, not me)... that's pretty much asking for it. Also, quote the whole thing next time, because chopping up quotes is what Fox does and they ain't very loved.

[Ropony]

It's in no way pony related, perhaps?

Then they're being inconsistent because plenty of other original instrumental pieces have been getting accepted.

That's what THIS WHOLE TOPIC IS ABOUT. Seth doesn't want stuff anymore that isn't pony-related enough. Just because he has accepted it in the past doesn't mean he has to do it now. Especially when the community is growing, getting more strict with what content you take isn't really a bad thing at all. :/

Plenty of instrumentals have been accepted in the last week that have nothing to do with pony other than the art that's included. While i can certainly understand your point that only pony related stuff should be getting accepted, they're being inconsistent about it.

[Diss Order]

Well if that's the case, then I've got my question marks as well. The policy of blocking content that isn't pony-related is a damn good one, but if you only apply it half the time it's still no use.

[Ropony]

I think it's mainly because it doesn't give an image of "Griffon Wings" it sounds nice enough, but it doesn't give the image that's implied by the title...

Well, everyone that listens to music interprets things in a different way, if zahqo had Gilda in his mindset when making this piece, who are we to tell him it has nothing to do with Gilda?

[bartekko]

Well, everyone that listens to music interprets things in a different way, if zahqo had Gilda in his mindset when making this piece, who are we to tell him it has nothing to do with Gilda?

a different way, if zahqo had Gilda in his

if

IF

IF

That's the main thing. If one honestly relates x to y, then It's a great problem if somepony else can't see the connection.

Give me ONE example of fully instrumental, fully original song that everyone accepts as pony related.

Beyond her garden - vocals is not pony related.

She's a pony remix - vocals = she's a pirate remix

Let me call this: the trixie problem:
Waltz for trixie is a great song, that's for Sure.
But if I didn't know either this song, either Beethoven's fifth symphony, then If I had to decide which one is more trixie-related, then It'd be obviously 5th symhony, because of obvious reason: waltz for trixie isn't loud, isn't show-off, isn't a smallest portion of the selfishness trixie is known for.

this doesn't mean this song wasn't inspired by "boast busters" (i guess).

Some may say: but this song is FOR trixie, not ABOUT trixie... I reply: dubstep for fluttershy gogogo

[zahqo]

Uh, well I will say I'm alright that, that song isn't not featured. It wasn't exactly a huge release for me. Also, I see where seth is coming from where if the guidelines aren't stricter, then that's a ton of music submissions he's probably getting. (It's not like it was months ago)

Being a source of debate here is making me slightly uncomfortable.

[Ropony]

Sorry zahqo, it wasn't really my intent to make this just about your song, I was just using yours as an example because I think this applies to a large amount of stuff that goes through.

[Solarsail]

From the looks of it the pre-listeners are ignoring Seth's literal words of 'not pony related' and just putting through anything of quality and minimal relation. Which is exactly the right thing I think. As I said earlier we can have an actual debate when a song gets rejected that the composer or others feel strongly about.

The only opinion in this thread I disagree with so far is Diss's "Make up your own pony lyrics, use a theme from one of the show songs or the BGM, and make a variation on it, use some show vocals, etc etc etc". Because there are instrumentals that nearly everyone agrees are pony related but contain none of these. Using show samples or themes is rather limiting to the style and there are people such as myself that don't like sampling. Also if you make people add these things to satisfy some criteria, the rest of it could still be pony unrelated. As for vocals, you could just do a Ponychan-style word filter of any popular song and change the title to a show character's and you have ponified but still uninspired lyrics.

A lot of people would trade 30s of their song over to show samples in order to recieve the 5,000 views an EqD post gets you. Any policy that encourages that is bad.

Thorinair: Try submitting something. Complain here when it is rejected.

[Thorinair]

From the looks of it the pre-listeners are ignoring Seth's literal words of 'not pony related' and just putting through anything of quality and minimal relation. Which is exactly the right thing I think. As I said earlier we can have an actual debate when a song gets rejected that the composer or others feel strongly about.

The only opinion in this thread I disagree with so far is Diss's "Make up your own pony lyrics, use a theme from one of the show songs or the BGM, and make a variation on it, use some show vocals, etc etc etc". Because there are instrumentals that nearly everyone agrees are pony related but contain none of these. Using show samples or themes is rather limiting to the style and there are people such as myself that don't like sampling. Also if you make people add these things to satisfy some criteria, the rest of it could still be pony unrelated. As for vocals, you could just do a Ponychan-style word filter of any popular song and change the title to a show character's and you have ponified but still uninspired lyrics.

A lot of people would trade 30s of their song over to show samples in order to recieve the 5,000 views an EqD post gets you. Any policy that encourages that is bad.

Thorinair: Try submitting something. Complain here when it is rejected.

Completely agree with everything you wrote. Also, I would complain if it got rejected, but thing is, I never got a reply for the track I submitted, so I am absolutely unaware of the situation...

[Dr_Dissonance]

Well, everyone that listens to music interprets things in a different way, if zahqo had Gilda in his mindset when making this piece, who are we to tell him it has nothing to do with Gilda?

There's a fun little concept which will be the death of me called "Musical Expectation." This is where something is so engraved in our mind musically that it is expected to happen in certain scenarios...

For example, if something scary is about to happen, we expect screechy strings to play! We don't expect a nice happy tune on the flute!
It's also why we always hear a Banjo whenever Applejack shows up...and why whenever Rarity appears on screen, the music either has a harpsichord or becomes much more regal...

Everything has some form of musical expectation. This is no exception...so, the audience, or listeners do have a musical expectation to fufill with the title! Now, do you expect something like this when a Griffin shows up on screen?

Also, yes sorry Zahqo for using you as an example, but this is important...

[Ropony]

Perhaps you're right about this particular piece of music not immediately instilling images of griffons for most of the people that would listen to it. I personally get a lot of different emotions out of chill music like this, so I guess for this particular piece it really depends on how you view Gilda as a character, is she really just a bitch, or is there some deeper meaning behind why she acts that way?

[Diss Order]

The only opinion in this thread I disagree with so far is Diss's "Make up your own pony lyrics, use a theme from one of the show songs or the BGM, and make a variation on it, use some show vocals, etc etc etc". Because there are instrumentals that nearly everyone agrees are pony related but contain none of these. Using show samples or themes is rather limiting to the style and there are people such as myself that don't like sampling.

You can make variations on a theme in so many ways, there's endless possibilities. Of course it's limiting; it's a PONY news site so IT HAS TO BE ABOUT PONIES. GOSH. You don't have to sample music to make it related. Using a theme =//= copy/pasting the show music in a sequencer and build a track around it...

Now, I agree that certain stuff gets through that seems non-pony-related at first, but becomes indirectly related (fanon) because the fandom embraces it. The Lunar Republic being the perfect example. And I have no problems with stuff like that. My problem is producers giving their random songs pony-related names/videos JUST so they can enjoy the massive traffic from EqD's watchers. THAT's what I'm so fucking annoyed about.

Also if you make people add these things to satisfy some criteria, the rest of it could still be pony unrelated. As for vocals, you could just do a Ponychan-style word filter of any popular song and change the title to a show character's and you have ponified but still uninspired lyrics.

Well DUH. There's always the possibility of declining music because it's utter shit. Why do you think Seth is asking people to pre-listen for him? I think he's perfectly capable of seeing how pony-related a track is or isn't, but I think he approached us to filter out low-effort, low-quality submissions. Being pony-related shouldn't be the only criteria, because then you'll obviously get a pile of shit.

[Flutterbro]

Beyond her garden - vocals is not pony related.

Uh.

[Solarsail]

You can make variations on a theme in so many ways, there's endless possibilities. Of course it's limiting; it's a PONY news site so IT HAS TO BE ABOUT PONIES. GOSH. You don't have to sample music to make it related. Using a theme =//= copy/pasting the show music in a sequencer and build a track around it...

Disagree here, but I don't think it's something we can resolve through argument, at least not without an example rejected song to discuss the merits of.

To me, and evidently not to anyone else, using a show theme or sample even as a subtle reference makes me class it as 'remix' and I can no longer enjoy it as an original track. And I'm not convinced that adding such a reference makes the track more or less pony than it was beforehand.

Now, I agree that certain stuff gets through that seems non-pony-related at first, but becomes indirectly related (fanon) because the fandom embraces it. The Lunar Republic being the perfect example. And I have no problems with stuff like that.

NLR should not be the exception, that is allowed due to popularity or position. It should be the model; that instrumental songs featured on EqD have to be about as pony related as that. It clearly is, despite its style being different from the show, having no references and even excluding its fanon/popularity. If Glaze's songs did not have lyrics they would be no less pony.

My problem is producers giving their random songs pony-related names/videos JUST so they can enjoy the massive traffic from EqD's watchers. THAT's what I'm so fucking annoyed about.

Oh absolutely I agree with your point. I've made it myself in the past. I guess I hold out hope that, even with no show samples or covers or vocals, it is possible to tell whether the composer was thinking about ponies at the time of writing. It's certainly very hard.

Why do you think Seth is asking people to pre-listen for him? I think he's perfectly capable of seeing how pony-related a track is or isn't, but I think he approached us to filter out low-effort, low-quality submissions. Being pony-related shouldn't be the only criteria, because then you'll obviously get a pile of shit.

Let me quote everything Seth has said on the matter publicly.

"So, I grabbed some guys over at "My Little Remix" to do some pre-listening on all these Octavia/Luna/Spitfire/Scratch songs after some complaints about how "pony" this stuff was. Needless to say, things are a bit stricter now. I got an email the other day saying you wanted me to stress a bit more quality control on EQD with music, and I agree."

"A lot of this stuff (primarily the classical and techno) just isn't "pony" enough. I have been taking anything that sounds "good", and I admit, I slip up on a few. There is also the issue of remixing other stuff and not really changing much."

"The "art" aspect is the part I struggle with on these. Octavias symphony #3944 could very well be someone's special interpretation on Octavia. I don't think anyone in the world can track down every classical song in existence and make sure its completely original though, and I don't think anyone can tell the person their song isn't octavia if they poured their heart and soul into it."

If you go by words alone then Seth is asking for pre-listeners to determine pony relevance. That seems more emphasised than quality. This is why I said I'm glad the pre-listeners are ignoring his actual words.

[Diss Order]

Well, if I'm a prelisterer and something is pony-related but extremely low-effort and bad, it will get a 'NO' from me.

Anyway, I guess this is a pretty hard subject that can't really be expressed in theory, arguments and regulations. I guess I'll shut my traphole and let Seth decide what he wants and doesn't want on his site. If enough people disagree with his policy there will probable come a spinoff site/music portal anyway that has another policy.

I'm glad my opinion was heard either way, and I'm sorry if stepped on a few souls along the way. I get a little carried away sometimes...

[Navron]

Don't forget that since most songs are uploaded to YouTube for submission, there's a great thing called the description box. I'd say considering it's very hard to tell whether or not somebody is taking advantage of the fandom to push their own agenda, a simple description of the character/setting that inspired the piece could help the prelisteners filter out what original works can/can not be posted.

[Diss Order]

That too. It goes like that with #PoniesPlus applications on deviantART as well, I'm one of the mods there. If you apply for membership without an introduction we don't even bother looking at your profile, and just autodecline. We have rules and if people don't care enough to read our page before they join then we don't care to spend time to judge them.

So yeah, that would be a nice thing to include!

[Sethisto]

Just a quick query for you guys!

Is this helping at all? The music queue has been pretty massive the last few days, but pretty much everything is. It seems bronies go in spurts.

A lot of things are being sent to the moon. Music is a bit more difficult to do it with than fanfics (We can usually isolate an issue and tell them to fix it), but I think the quality has improved somewhat.

[Dr_Dissonance]

The almighty one speaks

I think the quality has improved somewhat, but I have been getting reports from people saying their stuff was rejected, but without being told why...
It's great that quality is coming up (which it is btw), but I still think feedback would be nice for people to get!
But so far, it's relatively working!

[bartekko]

without being told why...

That's the worst thing

[Diss Order]

I'm also afraid music might get declined because some of the prelisteners might decline something because they don't like the genre. I can imagine how instrumentalist might decline a bunch of hardcore tracks that get submitted, for example...

By the way, Seth. I didn't get any messages or notifications regarding the prelistening whatsoever. And I signed up for it about 2 weeks ago. I've been online on google talk most of the time since last weekend. What's up?

[BlackElectric]

I send my stuff in and never get replies about whether or not it was accepted...

It would be nice to know if you got a yes or no.