What makes an artist or song "take off?"

[BronyMetalMix]

This is something that I always wondered. What is it about a song that can take a not so well know musician and put them at the top of the peek so to speak? What is it about that ONE song that drives the popularity of an artist? I've seen many artists get popular and have a loyal fanbase because of only one song. It's something I've always asked myself but never could find a full answer to. Let's take for example TheLivingTombstone. His "Discord" remix was (I believe) THE SONG that put him on the map of this sea of musicians within this fandom. Or hey, just use SirMixAlot "Baby Got Back", that was another HUGE song but then...just nothing. Oh, he put out other songs, but they never got to the status of "Baby Got Back". I'm not trying to sound like I'm complaining or anything, it really is just a question that I've always asked myself. I wanted to know what you all thought.

What factors do you all think makes a song or artist "take off" so to speak?

[CDPP]

In descending order
Luck, timing, skill and a pre existing fanbase. Honestly if we were able to predict hypes we'd all be millionaires. I'm guessing mass comm classes would cover this pretty comprehensively.

[BronyMetalMix]

And of course, fame doesn't come overnight. It's takes a long time..a damn long time. Sure, there's One Hit Wonders. But then there's those musicians that are still kicking even to this day.

[itroitnyah]

If the song is good and it's promoted well, it'll take off. Because if the song is good, other people will share it with their friends, you may get local radio air, you get invited to the small live show and you perform your song, crowd goes nuts, your song is suddenly making its way all over the place, you get sent off to some major city and perform there, crowd is pleased and now everybody knows your song. Or if you're releasing on the internet, other people find your song and like it, fav it, subscribe, whatever, their subscribers see this and check out your music, or the original person shares your song with his online friends, and then more and more people see your song on youtube or such as it gets more and more people liking it, you sent it to a promotional website as well, a few in fact, and some of them feature your song, more people see it and the world starts spinning for your music.

Overall, if you want people to notice your music, send it to a promotional website, blog, small online record "company", radio channel, etc.

[Freewave]

Tombstone may have become #1 with Discord but he was a big deal before then. He was part of the whole Mic the Microphone, Glaze, and occasionally Jackleapp partnership. There was

The Living Tombstone – September (ft. Mic The Microphone and PinkieSkye)
Mic The Microphone - Beyond Her Tomb [Tomb Rap]
The Living Tombstone - Sister Hate (ft. Mic The Microphone)
The Living Tombstone - Good Ol' Days (ft. Mic The Microphone and Jackle App)
The Living Tombstone - Party Cannon
DJ Alex S. - Party With Pinkie (The Living Tombstone's Remix)
Tombstone - Winter Wrap up Remix
were all top tracks of 2011

But it was the Tombface meme (one of the few musicians that people knew who he LOOKED like) after bronycon 2012, Discord Remix, and other top tracks in 2012
Woodentoaster & TheLivingTombstone – Love Me Cheerilee
WoodenToaster + The Living Tombstone – Lost On The Moon feat. Rina Chan
Dasha and The Living Tombstone – Good Girl
The Living Tombstone feat. Lauren G. – Magic
The Living Tombstone – Octavia’s Overture
The Living Tombstone and Bronyfied – Stuck in Time
The Living Tombstone – Dubstep Dishwasher
The Living Tombstone – Smile Song (The Living Tombstone’s Remix)
that made him #1

Biggest things that make a brony musician a success overnight are

A very memorable original song (Daddy Discord, Anthropology) that can often be covered and remixed by others. Played endlessly and recommended endlessly as essential fannon.
Collaboration or Name checking BY well known musician
EQD Spotlight
Clear Talent (good vocalists do have an edge, let's face it; and others are immediately great )
Good mixing (it doesn't hurt at all)

But most musicians will not become e-famous overnight, its a string of successful songs and more often not finding a genre or style niche that's not overdone (see Kyoga and ambient) and being able to stick with that style so that people seek them out if they like that style. Giving their name a meaning and a sound behind it (consistency).

[DJ Skrudge]

Getting to the top imo is, as stated before, mostly down to good fortune and a healthy amount of talent. I know Freewave's already extensively covered TLT, but let's take a more recent example: Assertive Fluttershy. His popularity skyrocketed after featuring in Balloon Party, which was a very publicized and anticipated album. Before this I think his highest Youtube view count was on his remix of Becoming Popular (which I adored, btw) with ~10000-12000 views. He actually didn't have a high number of subscribers from what I remember (compared to his sub count now) and his Facebook page had a minimal number of likes (I was the 8th like, and this was after his BP teaser was released).

Boooring was a song that stood out from the songs before and after it in Balloon Party, for whatever reason. Perhaps it was the composition (the melody was something you could hum along to, and one that had enormous staying power), the vocal glitching (which seems to draw a lot of people to songs, because of its uniqueness I suppose- see Skrillex ) or the drop, but in any case, it was probably the most popular- or one of the most popular- songs on the album. You often see fans commenting on AF's videos saying things like 'make more songs like booooring XDXD' or 'This reminds me of your old bp song <333' etc. In any case, they came for Boooring, they stayed for everything else. And I guess 2600 Facebook likes, a sub count of over 22,000 and a remix from Silva Hound later, he's become one of the more well-known brony musicians around at present (and as a fan of AF from his Becoming Popular remix, it's well deserved too ^_^)

In conclusion? If you want to make it big, what will propel you to fame is a solid and catchy (probably the most important part) track that is publicized extensively, whether through EQD or on a big album like Balloon Party. Now, though, due to the massive increase in music produced by this fandom and the high quality of a lot of that music, as well as the changing tastes of the fandom (I think), it's become a lot harder to become well-known very quickly.

[BronyMetalMix]

Thanks for all the input guys, really cool to see what you all have to say about something like this. I wanna add something, when it comes to fame and you're just starting out like me for example. It can be hard to see all these other musicians get all of these plays,views,subs stuff like that. But just remember something, when they started out, they were just like all of us when we started out and grew their way up to the top. Sure, there's gonna be moments of down, but what ya do then is ya take a step back and look at the fanbase that you have right now and thank them for all the support they've given you.

[Viricide Filly]

Tombstone may have become #1 with His terrible remix of Discord which is nowhere near as good as the original and therefore shouldn't have made him famous in the first place but the fandom tends to glorify shit in mass quantities

Fixed for you.

In my opinion, fame either comes with luck or pure arrogance. Or whining constantly (COUGHNEUKATALYSTCOUGH)

I've seen countless people who are extremely talented who send masterpieces into record labels and they get rejected because they take into account your possiblities of becoming money makers, your ability to sell yourself and etc. One Direction are only famous because they make their labels shitloads of money.
This is MY cynical approach anyway. Don't take it for granted.

[Navron]

When it comes to the fandom, there's a specific taste, especially in the dubstep/EDM scene. Take a good look at Excision, Kill the Noise, Knife Party, etc. They (for the most part) have a very distinctive sound design that allows you to identify the artist just by the sound design alone.

But when it comes to the brony dubstep scene (and excuse this following rant), it's all the same damn sound, and if you are a dubstep producer that tries to utilize any form of sound design that doesn't have that particular sound (elektro/house combination w/ screamers, vowel basses, etc) you aren't going to get very far. It doesn't take a very trained ear to hear the similarities in drop styles between Omni, Silva, Art, Bassik, and many others. Six of Lasers probably had the most distinctive sound amongst the Balloon Party musicians, and he's still a relatively undiscovered musician with under 2k subs.

Dubstep isn't alone in this argument either. The Brony fandom as a whole has a knack for only liking musicians that have a distinct sound within a particular genre, and the sad thing I'm coming to realize, is there's actually more diversity within the big music industry between different artists of the same genre, than the popular brony musicians of the same genre.

Unless you plan on changing your sound to suit the fandom, you have a much better chance perfecting your own sound and getting into the actual music industry than trying to get the fandom to appreciate 2 different types of sound within the same genre.

My own basis for these statements? The fact I've gotten no less than 4 offers by online labels to partner with them, and yet the brony music scene doesn't seem to care about my own sound.

Grab some Nexus presets, and go be famis with ze poni communty!

[Freewave]

Dang Viricide seems a bit upset

Well remember that Omnipony is a musician that people HERE continually point out cannot mix great or does mistakes within his tracks (look at Circuitfry's diss on his including his subpar entry on Balloon Afterparty or Lavendar pointing out other incorrect eq'ing) and yet he's the 10th most popular musician in the community. In the end the average brony fan is not necessarily a connoisseur of fine music taste or one who necessarily cares about overusing presets, having originality, eq'ing, or what other musicians think). They like the wubs, pop music, what to expect from a well known artist, and sometimes what the rest of us might detest. That's how it is. His fans REALLY like his music, they know his style, and that's likely all he needs to care about.

Again there's nothing with aiming to make a song that people will like but trying to achieve fame THIS late in the game is going to be harder than ever. Aim to have good music and your own style above and beyond and at least your can build a base of people who support your efforts at music.

I will say for those who want to get famous in the poni scene and then transcend that to the bigger music scene i don't see why you would have much momentum doing that. The MLP crowd for the most part won't likely continue liking your non-pony tracks that much or for that long (maybe briefly) and the regular non-brony music fan won't appreciate your older catalog or necessarily want to touch it. For the most part you will be starting from scratch again. Personally there's nothing wrong with finding success in a music scene where people DO care about your music and you know how to succeed there (the brony music scene). It's much harder outside of it tbh when you don't have things like EQD to highlight your work.

[ganondox]

Nirvana got popular because one VJ liked Smells Like Teen Spirit and kept playing it on MTV. Basically it takes two things to get popular: 1. Exposure, people can't like you if they don't know you exist and 2. Quality, people can spam the group out of something, but it's going to be forgotten if it's forgettable. Quality can feed into exposure as people will share the things they like, and exposure feeds into itself, so one something of quality reaches a critical mass of exposure it should explode. The reason why artists seem to break through with a particular song is because the process pretty much starts over with each new song except for a smaller base from previous exposure, and one song happens to reach critical mass. EQD, big name musicians, and Daniel Ingram are probably the three largest discrete sources of exposure in the fandom, so getting a song that stands out featured by one of those sources is probably what will make an artist get big.

Another thing that needs to be kept in mind is this: accessibility. Some songs are of high quality and get a fair amount of exposure, but they don't catch on because they were shared with the wrong audience. People might not like or share a song because they can't get into it. This skews what exactly "quality" means.

Six of Lasers probably had the most distinctive sound amongst the Balloon Party musicians, and he's still a relatively undiscovered musician with under 2k subs.

Tarby, Makkon, Sci, Psychedelic Brony, Pinkie Guy, ISMBOF, Midwives of Discord, Lavender Harmony, AcousticBrony/Princewhatever, and Stars in Autumn were all on Balloon Party and all had more distinct sounds than Six of Lasers, so you must be meaning something different than literal Balloon Party musicians. Anyway, the top two musicians, Glaze and The Livingtombstone, don't sound like each other or like the big house/dubstep musicians in the fandom, so there is some hope. Also, last time I checked AcousticBrony was in the top 20 musicians and I haven't really heard anything else that sounds like them within or outside the fandom, though they might just be as popular as they are because they jumped on the train early on.

Well remember that Omnipony is a musician that people HERE continually point out cannot mix great or does mistakes within his tracks (look at Circuitfry's diss on his including his subpar entry on Balloon Afterparty or Lavendar pointing out other incorrect eq'ing) and yet he's the 10th most popular musician in the community.

I actually liked Desert Walker, I thought it was pretty cool....

[BronyMetalMix]

When it comes to the fandom, there's a specific taste, especially in the dubstep/EDM scene. Take a good look at Excision, Kill the Noise, Knife Party, etc. They (for the most part) have a very distinctive sound design that allows you to identify the artist just by the sound design alone.

But when it comes to the brony dubstep scene (and excuse this following rant), it's all the same damn sound, and if you are a dubstep producer that tries to utilize any form of sound design that doesn't have that particular sound (elektro/house combination w/ screamers, vowel basses, etc) you aren't going to get very far. It doesn't take a very trained ear to hear the similarities in drop styles between Omni, Silva, Art, Bassik, and many others. Six of Lasers probably had the most distinctive sound amongst the Balloon Party musicians, and he's still a relatively undiscovered musician with under 2k subs.

Dubstep isn't alone in this argument either. The Brony fandom as a whole has a knack for only liking musicians that have a distinct sound within a particular genre, and the sad thing I'm coming to realize, is there's actually more diversity within the big music industry between different artists of the same genre, than the popular brony musicians of the same genre.

Unless you plan on changing your sound to suit the fandom, you have a much better chance perfecting your own sound and getting into the actual music industry than trying to get the fandom to appreciate 2 different types of sound within the same genre.

My own basis for these statements? The fact I've gotten no less than 4 offers by online labels to partner with them, and yet the brony music scene doesn't seem to care about my own sound.

Grab some Nexus presets, and go be famis with ze poni communty!

Wow! 4 offers from online labels? That's damn impressive. Personally I need to get into working with designing my own sounds and all that. *Looks at FL Studio's Harmor* I WILL MASTER YOU ON DAY! *goes back to topic* Got any suggestions or anything when it comes to sound design?

[BronyMetalMix]

Dang Viricide seems a bit upset

Well remember that Omnipony is a musician that people HERE continually point out cannot mix great or does mistakes within his tracks (look at Circuitfry's diss on his including his subpar entry on Balloon Afterparty or Lavendar pointing out other incorrect eq'ing) and yet he's the 10th most popular musician in the community. In the end the average brony fan is not necessarily a connoisseur of fine music taste or one who necessarily cares about overusing presets, having originality, eq'ing, or what other musicians think). They like the wubs, pop music, what to expect from a well known artist, and sometimes what the rest of us might detest. That's how it is. His fans REALLY like his music, they know his style, and that's likely all he needs to care about.

Again there's nothing with aiming to make a song that people will like but trying to achieve fame THIS late in the game is going to be harder than ever. Aim to have good music and your own style above and beyond and at least your can build a base of people who support your efforts at music.

I will say for those who want to get famous in the poni scene and then transcend that to the bigger music scene i don't see why you would have much momentum doing that. The MLP crowd for the most part won't likely continue liking your non-pony tracks that much or for that long (maybe briefly) and the regular non-brony music fan won't appreciate your older catalog or necessarily want to touch it. For the most part you will be starting from scratch again. Personally there's nothing wrong with finding success in a music scene where people DO care about your music and you know how to succeed there (the brony music scene). It's much harder outside of it tbh when you don't have things like EQD to highlight your work.

That did open my eyes a bit, I was nodding while reading it actually. I remember when I started making music, one of my goals was try to make a name for myself within this fandom. But as I kept going I started telling myself "Ya know..just make good music. If the fame comes, it comes." That's not to say I'll stop making pony music or leave these forums. I enjoy talking to you all about this stuff. ^_^ But I realized that if you're making music JUST to be famous, you're doing it for the wrong reasons.

[Navron]

Wow! 4 offers from online labels? That's damn impressive.

Not really impressive when you consider the fact that (just like brony music labels) a lot of people start up these small labels and try to recruit musicians to them.

The main point of the example is that people outside of the community are taking notice before the target community as a whole.

Tarby, Makkon, Sci, Psychedelic Brony, Pinkie Guy, ISMBOF, Midwives of Discord, Lavender Harmony, AcousticBrony/Princewhatever, and Stars in Autumn were all on Balloon Party and all had more distinct sounds than Six of Lasers, so you must be meaning something different than literal Balloon Party musicians.

I was distinctly talking about the dubstep produces in the fandom, so my reference to BP was in reference to the dubstep producers for that album.

[vladnuke]

man fuck that noise lol

thats why i don't do this whole dubstep circuit bullshit, too confining, too rigid

gotta cut into the new electrohouse and -core markets

and also dont just do brony music, make music for other fandoms, damn

i got a madoka album on the way just cuz this next album is gonna be my little opus to us bronados.

man, electronic is gonna take over in general

daft punk released, boc released, yeezus was mostly hardcore electronica thanks to daft punk, Ultra music fest happened, Everfree northwest happened, fact is that electronic music is looking up as a whole

[ganondox]

Tarby, Makkon, Sci, Psychedelic Brony, Pinkie Guy, ISMBOF, Midwives of Discord, Lavender Harmony, AcousticBrony/Princewhatever, and Stars in Autumn were all on Balloon Party and all had more distinct sounds than Six of Lasers, so you must be meaning something different than literal Balloon Party musicians.

I was distinctly talking about the dubstep produces in the fandom, so my reference to BP was in reference to the dubstep producers for that album.

Oh, right, you were. Well, I can't stand any aspect of the brony dubstep scene. I just ignore it completely and my life moves along fine. I'm not even sure if dubstep is really the most desired music in the fandom. This might just be confirmation bias, but from the music of the days and the spotlight posts it seems Rock is one of the most desired genres. Or metalheads might just be the loudest. The Brony Rock scene is being pushed towards the Princwhatever/MandoPony/Forest Rain Pop Punk sound for the most popular stuff, but it still has quite a bit of diversity, even in the fairly popular stuff. Considering that artists like SGAP have gotten as popular as they have and they haven't even been around since the first wave is evidence enough that's is possible to be successful in the Brony Music Scene without making conformist dubstep. You just need to find your audience and build up your fanbase over time.

Anyway, the important thing is that you are doing what you are doing because you want to do it, not because you are trying to get popular. That might happen, or it might not, but if you are doing anything for the sake of trying to get popular you are doing it from the wrong reasons. If you keep at it and have minimum level of exposure you should be able to find people who will appreciate your music sooner or latter, which is really just rewarding as being super popular. Apparently there are even people who like Ghelded Kultz for some goddamn reason. Even if you don't you should still have fun from make it and learn important skills, which is really the most important thing when making fan music like this.

[HMage]

I was distinctly talking about the dubstep produces in the fandom, so my reference to BP was in reference to the dubstep producers for that album.

Out of curiosity -- was my track dubstep to you?

[Nine Volt]

I was distinctly talking about the dubstep produces in the fandom, so my reference to BP was in reference to the dubstep producers for that album.

Out of curiosity -- was my track dubstep to you?

Wasn't your track house?

[JSynth]

and also dont just do brony music, make music for other fandoms, damn

this.

Right now, I have actually been trying to put together a Doctor Who album that I hope to release on November 23rd. I might also put together an instrumental album for the Minecraft fandom.

[@ppleBukker]

Allow me to throw in my two bits on this...

Getting famous and popular within the fandom does seem really nice. Exposure, fans, remixes, and if you're lucky, a live performance at a con just sounds awesome. But, at what cost?

Let's play off an earlier reply. Changing your style to fit what is popular. This seems like an ideal thing to do if you wanna get tons of fans. Sure, get Massive, some good Vengence sample packs, and tons of presets that sound just like everybody else and you're set to go. But... that's not your music is it? It's not fun because it sounds like every other song out there. It's not your style.

So, why did you get into making brony music in the first place? For fans and notoriety? For a few strings of text that say, "omg yur music haz da mad wubzzz"? For bragging rights? Or, did you get into this because of how fun and exhilarating it is to make music based on a show that you love. Did you get into it because of a community of fellow musicians and friends that happen to share the same interest?

That is your decision to make. Myself, I got into it for the fun and friendship that I would build.

So, why am I posting this in a thread of "what makes you popular"? My answer, to get a different perspective on the discussion.

See, Sci and I have had talks about stuff like this and we come to the same conclusion most times. It's about friends. The songs I make are either posted here, Youtube, or on Toastbeard (via EqBeats). I never try to get it featured on ED or any other sites (not that I'm condemning anyone who is). I understand that I'm not going to get many views or listens. However, I'm happy for the few that I do get. I'm happy for the few comments that say, "hey, this is actually really good." All of this is because my approach is having fun, not fame.

In the end, I come out with my integrity intact and knowing that I have expressed myself artistically. Again, going back to my original point, having fun.

[BronyMetalMix]

Well AppleBukker, Like I said in an earlier post. It was a goal of mine when I first started this to try and make a name for myself within the fandom, even if it was a small one. I also got into it because I saw friends of mine who are also producers and I heard the music they were making and i wanted to jump in as well. But as I kept making more music, I realized that "if the fame comes, it comes." Right now I'm thankful for the small fanbase that I do have, the people I met and the fun I've been having and will continue to have. It's about the journey not the destination in this case and I'm just glad I'm making music that people seem to enjoy.

[ganondox]

I never try to get it featured on ED or any other sites (not that I'm condemning anyone who is).

I want to get featured just to troll the site.

[caprixsnare]

A jet pack

[Navron]

I was distinctly talking about the dubstep produces in the fandom, so my reference to BP was in reference to the dubstep producers for that album.

Out of curiosity -- was my track dubstep to you?

Not in the slightest.

[Mr. Bigglesworth]

Who you know certainly factors into it.

You get more exposure if someone with a decent fanbase mentions you than if you're just self-promoting.