Top Brony Musician List is Updated

[Freewave]

Ok it's been 6 months since the last update and ranking. With season 4 starting up and 3 years of brony music in existence we have a rare opportunity to see who the top musicians of our scene are. Using the youtube subscriptions totals of each musician we have put together a ranked list of each. While there's plenty of great musicians under 1,000 subs we wanted to thank those who've done a great job of getting noticed and putting out great music for the community (and that's where this list begins at). Here's the prior list from 6 months ago. How times have changed!

If you see anyone over 1,000 subs who we have missed (which is very possible) let us know in comments (or reply below) and we'll add them to the list when we get a chance. We also divided the list into alicorns, unicorns, and pegasi to make it interesting. Anyone with ** after their name does more than just music so may have a sub boost there. PMV artists are not included. Musicians who have left and deleted their youtubes or their catalogs have been dropped but have an honorable mention at the very bottom. Remember that popularity is not the same thing as quality and that there is no reason for being butthurt over the brony community's favorites.

Thanks to Lore for maintaining this list for months and Clavi for tabulating all the current youtube sub counts. Both were a lot of work and is GREATLY appreciated.

http://bronymusiciandirectory.blogspot. ... .html?show

http://fimmusic.tumblr.com/post/6901811 ... -2013-with
^plz reblog if you've got tumblr. fimmusic needs all the help it can get.

[ClaviSound]

Ack, stretched image

Fix that

Otherwise, cool story bro, glad I could contribute. I didn't mind running the numbers for you. Cheers to those on the list, or aspiring to that!

[Freewave]

fixed a few things in the post

[TWILICORN]

Wow, there's a lot of people mad over this.

I don't get it.

[Freewave]

Wow, there's a lot of people mad over this.

I don't get it.

A lot of those reponses are from the first time we posted this list (ie the BUTTHURT indicated in my initial post) from back in Dec 2012 and after. I decided to keep them and the update on the same page just so we won't see the same arguments hurled our way on an update. So far reponse has been very minimal and its unclear how many people are even aware of the update. Feel free to reblog if you can get the word out as we hope for people to see what we publish and spend time putting together.

[Pickslide1992]

This is helpful to me so I know which targets I can parody. Tombstone, you'll get yours soon enough.

[Gray Ham]

[offtopic]This community really needs something that'll bring it together somehow, I think it has needed that for a while now.[/offtopic]

Anyway, I'm not the most massive fan of this but I understand how much effort it would've taken.

#imbeingreallyfriendshippybecauseijustwatchedpersona4againimsorry

[Freewave]

Yeah I understand how many people this sadly leaves out and just how many of these people don't frequent mlr at all. Hopefully that won't always be the case and people will continue to move up as other people move on.

[Pickslide1992]

Yeah I understand how many people this sadly leaves out and just how many of these people don't frequent mlr at all. Hopefully that won't always be the case and people will continue to move up as other people move on.

I agree. A lot of people I know here are lower on the totem pole than the bigger dogs in the yard, but nonetheless are just as talented, maybe even more so in some cases, than said big dogs, at least recently.

I think the case here is that this scene is a bit saturated and most people are anywhere from 100-2000 subs realistically, and there are some folks I know here who have surpassed that mark. The way I see it, if subs are to be believed, the big dogs will stay where they are, even if they stop making pony music, unless someone does the impossible and dethrones them, but most of the scene I see are in that range I posted before.

[Freewave]

Yeah most people won't unsubscribe if someone leaves but they really will stop tuning in to those new tracks that come after they leave. It's not exactly like there have been many musicians that have found real success outside of this fanbase yet and many if they do get signed by a label might get any profits sucked away or get dropped just as quickly. In the end I truly think its better to be part of a fanbase that knows your name and supports you then a much more vast musical landscape where you are starting from scratch and people would likely look down at pony music. But in the end i won't fault people if they want to leave and make a living in music as a career, i just think that can be done here if anyone is at that level. People sometimes gripe when people don't watch their non-pony tracks after the've left but it's really those people that have left the community, not vice versa.

[Pickslide1992]

I see what you mean. I'm just under the impression that even if the big wigs stop doing MLP stuff, they'll still be at the top just because of subscriber number. I know, numbers aren't everything, but some people tend to think that someone's subscriber/view count equates to skill, which isn't always the case (I've heard plenty of great musicians who have meager subs, but then mediocre junk from the top). In fact I'm surprised a lot of the guys I know (You, Screams from Equestria, Seventh Element) all have great sub amounts (I never really paid much attention to them) so this list is very interesting, even if it states the obvious with the top sub counts.

[ClaviSound]

Yeah I understand how many people this sadly leaves out and just how many of these people don't frequent mlr at all. Hopefully that won't always be the case and people will continue to move up as other people move on.

I agree. A lot of people I know here are lower on the totem pole than the bigger dogs in the yard, but nonetheless are just as talented, maybe even more so in some cases, than said big dogs, at least recently.

I think the case here is that this scene is a bit saturated and most people are anywhere from 100-2000 subs realistically, and there are some folks I know here who have surpassed that mark. The way I see it, if subs are to be believed, the big dogs will stay where they are, even if they stop making pony music, unless someone does the impossible and dethrones them, but most of the scene I see are in that range I posted before.

There have been a couple breakouts. SylphStorm wasn't even on the radar when that list was last made, and having followed the artist myself, I can tell you that DongleKumquat's subscriber count more than tripled from a little under 1,000 to 3k+ in six months. Of all of the names on that list, he jumped upwards the most, over fifty spots.

I've personally been producing music in the fandom for about a year and a half now, and that's given me enough time to really observe a couple of things. The first is that you should take the time to look for every available outlet to put yourself on. Twitter, Tumblr, YouTube, MLR, EQBeats... Expanding the possibility for opportunities will give you a wider range of choices in how to grow in the fandom and make connections.

The second thing is that submission sites' quality control measures are exploitable. Any prelistener system is heavily dependent on the tastes of the prelisteners. Usually if your music is good enough they'll feature it anyway, but if you're willing to sacrifice artistic integrity and "go pop" to be accessible, it'll set the difficulty bar lower. And honestly, you shouldn't be ashamed to do so; it's not so much gaining numbers as it is acquiring the reach and exposure. (Besides, as Freewave's pointed out, the brony fandom isn't exactly a springboard for future musical success, so it's not like you're losing credibility forever.) Of course, after you do this, you then open the opportunity to release music that may be slightly less accessible, but more true to yourself as a musician and artist.

There you go, I just inadvertently explained why musicians moving outside of the fandom aren't evil and you shouldn't judge them solely on the basis that they want to move away from ponies. They've "gone pop" already; now's the opportunity for them to show you their souls.

Unless of course they're jerks that completely disregard or take for granted what gave them that opportunity, that's just dumb and mean.

But, to address the actual point you were making, the first generation brony musicians will always stand as immovable bastions in the musical facet of the fandom the same way Equestria Daily will always stand as an immovable bastion in the general content facet. Those who got there first will remain there until the fandom dies, because those who make up the bulk of the listeners are going to stick to what they know is good (from their perspective, at least) and the fandom won't live long enough to see anyone surpass them.

[Pickslide1992]

^I like hearing your perspective on things. I agree that these guys that are on the top will likely stay there, no matter what route they go (And from what I hear, most of them are decent folks, and Hell, Edd and Jimmy of Acoustic Brony are great guys), but maybe it's the fact that I myself like sticking out from a crowd and don't want to "sell out" just to get my face out there. Yes I do pop, but more so vintage/retro stuff rather than Lady Gaga/Ke$ha styled stuff, which I think kind of separates me (Since there's a ton of rock/metal musicians in the fandom)

That said, I also agree with the musical taste/bias thing. The prelisteners were chosen I guess to be authorities on whatever genre comes in (One could be mainly EDM, another mainly rock/metal, another focusing on traditional Irish folk tunes, etc.) and the rest have enough knowledge on the genre to tell what's good and what needs work. Thing is, I'm not sure who's fond of what, so I can't really pander to a prelistener even if I wanted to. xD

But like I said, you make some excellent points here.

[JSynth]

Still not #1. OK, maybe next count.

But seriously, it surprises me that people can get so upset over a list like that. It's really just a statistic.

[ClaviSound]

The prelisteners were chosen I guess to be authorities on whatever genre comes in (One could be mainly EDM, another mainly rock/metal, another focusing on traditional Irish folk tunes, etc.)

Since when we say "prelistener" we're really just talking about Equestria Daily (apologies to other general content websites, but EqD's sort of the standard by which we compare everything anyway), I know from talking with some of the EqD members that they're typically invited by other prelisteners. Usually it's because the nominee happens to know a genre that's underrepresented in the group, yes, but sometimes it can be because they're friends with someone and they cajole them into inviting them.

What you call "pandering to a prelistener" goes beyond what style of music you choose. What kind of people do you work with? I almost guarantee you that if you have Feather or EileMonty singing on your song, and it doesn't have any glaring problems otherwise, you will hit spotlight on Equestria Daily; EqD absolutely adores female singers. And that's not to smear them or anything, but noteworthy vocalists of the fairer sex in this fandom tend to give a push to a song you can't give any other way.

All I know for sure is I've spent weeks on one song only for it to be relegated to the bottom of Music of the Day, and then slap together two verses over a Ke$ha song instrumental and have it be my most popular video featuring rap vocals. Sometimes, that's how the cookie crumbles.

[JSynth]

I think that we have established that EQD is not a fair system. Nor is popularity for that matter. At this point, all we can do is continue to improve our music and hope we will finally break through.

[Gray Ham]

Or you can just make music because you enjoy it and disregard what amount of popularity may or may not come to you.

[Pickslide1992]

Or you can just make music because you enjoy it and disregard what amount of popularity may or may not come to you.

That's basically what's become my philosophy. It's this internet culture that thrives on "Hey, look at me!" that makes me wonder if Narcissistic Personality Disorder is a side effect of internet usage and is becoming an epidemic. In the long run, even if you have the most amount of subscribers, that's small compared to movie and TV stars that get millions of views daily. Yes, internet fame is nothing to sneeze at, but it's best to keep things in perspective.

[ClaviSound]

Or you can just make music because you enjoy it and disregard what amount of popularity may or may not come to you.

That's basically what's become my philosophy. It's this internet culture that thrives on "Hey, look at me!" that makes me wonder if Narcissistic Personality Disorder is a side effect of internet usage and is becoming an epidemic. In the long run, even if you have the most amount of subscribers, that's small compared to movie and TV stars that get millions of views daily. Yes, internet fame is nothing to sneeze at, but it's best to keep things in perspective.

Oh man, I used to make music for popularity's sake, and not only is it a negative environment to work in, but it also really makes people into monsters sometimes.

Internet fame is, the overwhelming majority of the time, a flash in the pan. Unless you can build something from an internet following, you're just going to be a topic du jour until people move on. And even then, no matter how hard you'll try, sometimes you can never break out from always being known for that one thing you did that people noticed, even if you make different stuff.

Now, of course, we're talking about creating music centered around a TV show that will be airing for, at the most, probably five more years or so. At that point, the fandom's pretty much over, and all the music and art and animation and other stuff will mean nothing more than good times and memories.

That's not to say making pony music is worthless, though. It's a fantastic way to create music easily accessible to a certain audience, and test to see if it's something you want to take to the professional level. I've always thought of the brony musician scene as a training grounds more than anything else.

Now, for my own part, I make music because it's fun and because ponies inspire me and because I'm proud of myself in many ways for being able to give something I care about life within a song. If other people happen to like it, I'm glad they've found a song to listen to, but I make music only because I want to. I make it because music's awesome. Right now it happens to be about ponies, and I'm okay with that.

Far as I can tell, this fandom is about peace, love, unity, and having fun. So, why not spread peace, love, unity, and having fun while you can? Particularly that last one.

[Pickslide1992]

^Exactly the point. I too have yearned for fame when I began, but now I want to just have fun and if people like it, so be it. Hence why I want to get into parodying these top brony artists the way Weird Al pokes fun at pop stars. It's just a manner of who should I choose to target, and if I can contact them to get unofficial permission (I know I can do it without ant permission, but it's best to ask anyway), all in good fun.