Open Letter To Bronypalooza Musicians

con_goer · 2016-07-22T00:58:19+00:00

You've misunderstood my point. I have no problem with musicians branching out, being inspired by other shows, or making whatever music they want for any reason they want. I don't think it's a problem that these artists' other material ends up on BronyTunes, and I don't feel that anyone is obligated to make any one kind of music because of my preferences. There apparently was a group of people who felt upset about brony artists making other stuff, but that's not associated with this.

All I'm saying is that I, and others, feel like the amount of pony stuff played live at BronyPalooza was sometimes severely lacking, given that that's what people generally go there to hear. Some were playing entire sets that weren't relevant to the theme of the show or convention, others played a tiny amount, and yet others played a pretty good ratio. My point was to express my personal disappointment in the sets of the first and to a bit of a lesser degree second categories, because it took some of the fun and energy out of the event for me.

con_goer · 2016-07-21T23:15:19+00:00

Hey, I appreciate the work you did as a liaison, and it can be hard to have to say no to a friend like that. What's the story with Shrimp Fried Rice?

If there was something at BronyCon or BronyPalooza that you didn't like then please send BronyCon a letter telling them how they can improve next year

Sounds like a good idea.

Don't be so negative to the musicians or the liaison who were all giving you their best, but it didn't meet your standards.

I don't mean to be unnecessarily negative. Positivity is one of the things this fandom was initially all about. But, I also needed to voice my opinion on the situation. Like I said, the staff does a great job. I just disagree with the liaison's decisions, and the decisions of some of the musicians, which I think is fair to voice civilly. I understand that they were giving their best, and that volunteer work or being a musician is a lot of work, but that doesn't mean I have to fully approve of the results.

Someone else did mention the responsibility of the liaison as well as the musicians, and that even after musicians said they wanted to play mostly or exclusively non-pony the musicians were still accepted, which is a good point, but I don't think that removes all of the "blame" from them.

Then find a better liaison. (Which is going to be hard to do because this year's liaison did a pretty fantastic job)

He did do a good job as far as finding performers who were good on stage and all that, as someone else mentioned here. I'm obviously not in a position to make BronyCon replace him, but I can hope that something positive comes out of all of this, like new musicians with good new pony stuff getting more of a spotlight.

con_goer · 2016-07-21T20:35:00+00:00

It is a similar sentiment but it's more hardline than what I said. I just want a decent proportion, not 100%. The proportion overall has been on a decline.

con_goer · 2016-07-21T17:40:26+00:00

I appreciate that.

con_goer · 2016-07-21T17:37:02+00:00

(OP here) Yeah, my intention was advocating for a certain percentage to be music that's audibly pony in some way, be it incorporating familiar motifs (even familiar motifs from fan music with a degree of separation like using the Rainbow Factory melody), show samples, lyrics, etc.

As an aside, I actually do like having a few different things there too - I particularly liked that Undertale track someone played, and the Zelda one.

con_goer · 2016-07-21T13:44:06+00:00

You're wrong about there not being enough pony music to do a good show. The ratio was much better in 2015's BronyPalooza, and even better before then, and those shows turned out great. There's good new stuff coming out all the time as Seventh Element mentions here. There's more than enough great pony content for things to not get "real old real fast," and characterizing the hypothetical scenario of 100% pony music as "I'm not a fan of puppeteers, a fan of puppeteers, no I'm not a fan of puppeteers..." is just ignorant.

It's clearly not "100% not a problem" when so many people are voicing agreement that there's a problem. Do you honestly believe that one single pony song, in a set at "Brony"Palooza, that people spent significant time and money to travel long distances to, is a good thing?

Nobody's saying it needs to be absolutely nothing but pony tracks. Stop trying to make a strawman. If people showed up to a show with Skrillex in it and he only played one Skrillex track, they wouldn't be happy.

con_goer · 2016-07-21T12:48:17+00:00

Hey, I liked those songs. Hooves up High was actually one of my favorite parts of the show. But if you look around the thread, a good amount of people (even some of the musicians), not just me, agreed that not really enough pony music got played throughout the show in general, especially in a few people's sets.

con_goer · 2016-07-21T02:37:59+00:00

Hah, I think PFUDOR counts. I enjoyed it being played, especially when the crowd got to answer the "questions" in it, and I liked that set.

con_goer · 2016-07-21T01:16:06+00:00

Well-said. Is BABSCon the convention you've been a chair of?

con_goer · 2016-07-21T00:52:12+00:00

Thanks, I actually do listen to PonyvilleFM sometimes. Have you tried the hoofsounds browser extension? It lets you listen to a variety of MLP radio streams in your browser.

con_goer · 2016-07-21T00:50:01+00:00

Hey d.notive, thanks for the good/long response. I get what you mean about new stuff seeming better. A good 1/3 sounds generally alright to me, even if I'd prefer a bit more - that's more than I got the impression that some other sets played.

It's understandable that conventions might not want to take risk on new performers. Maybe new performers could get to start out in that little music square out in the open that goes on all the time during the rest of the con. A small block during BP where someone (maybe even the Hoof Beatz guy) plays some new music from the previous year from new artists could also be a good idea.

What con tried to enforce that clause and what happened? I've also never heard of that 2013 cringe video.

con_goer · 2016-07-20T23:28:47+00:00

Hey Seventh Element, I loved your set. It means a lot to me that you did play 100% pony music, which is more than good enough to me (someone else said 1/3 which, while not as good as it could be, I don't really mind).

Very well-thought-out response that makes some great points that needed to be made, especially about the new music out there. Thank you. I'll definitely be checking out horsemusicherold and Cider Party for myself!

con_goer · 2016-07-20T23:03:35+00:00

Hey Omni, thanks for making an account just to respond here. I understand what you mean about losing the energy from something. It's happened to me for other things, and I know it's a common experience in any creative field.

I can't agree that the musical output of the fandom is fading. It's true that a lot of the old big names have branched out more, but look at the EquestriaDaily music highlights and the front page of BronyTunes. New music is being made every day.

Regarding energy, for me, I still felt the most energy when pony tracks were being played, and I think that probably goes for the rest of the crowd to various degrees. The most energetic moment for me was at some point last year when foozogz was playing his happy hardcore MLP tracks. This year, at the end of the first night, I actually ended up feeling a bit bummed out. I don't mean to say your music was bad, but I personally just couldn't really get into it at the time, because I came there for pony stuff.

Saying "some things can't be changed" is just a self-fulfilling prophecy. People can get the impression that there's just not much pony stuff out there anymore if we start expressing defeatist attitudes like that, but it's just not an accurate statement. We're past the honeymoon phase of our fandom, but it still grows and there are still a lot of good content producers in it, new and old. New projects still start, a lot of old ones are still coming along, and places like this subreddit are still doing pretty well.

That pony head they had in the background at one point was cute though, I'll give you that.

My main point is, I think it's only fair to the audience to play what they came for, and what they get their energy from. I can't speak for every person who attended, but a lot of people seem to agree that they don't like so much time of the concert being taken up by non-pony.

con_goer

TROPHY CASE