Downward Trajectory of Brony Music (New Blog Launch pg 3 on)

[Alycs]

Basically, many (NOT ALL) of the older and more popular musicians turned into real assholes and shunned away any new musicians who looked up to them and really were inspired by them. You have people like Lavender, Alex S, Addictia, Makkon, and folks basically giving these newbies the cold shoulder, ignoring them, or even laughing at them for being pony fans or wanting to become good at music. That can really make any beginner feel like shit, to have one of your idols treat you and others like you in that way.

From my experience the only one on this list that could even be in the least bit a jerk would be Alex (and I would still argue against it with him) ; Makkon, Lavender, and Addictia all are still really great and help others all the time. (Frankly asshole and Makkon don't even belong in the same paragraph together)

[itroitnyah]

So just jumping in late and I didn't read a whole lot of the thread, but I don't see why the downward trajectory of brony music is that awful of a thing.

Seeing as a lot of the big brony musicians giving people the cold shoulder as stated somewhere, I don't see what's so wrong with that either. In Alex S's case, he has so many fans that his inbox on soundcloud and youtube probably fill pretty quick, and as he's no longer doing pony music, he doesn't want to be related to ponies. If people can't respect that, it's their own fault.

In other cases, it doesn't matter, because people's idols aren't there to be the shoulder they lean on. If, say, Lav wanted to tell somebody who just messaged him about pony music that he isn't really going to do pony music anymore and that doing pony music seems a bit ridiculous in this time and age, then Lav is very well free to say so and if the fan who could have potentially taken up music production and been somewhat talented wants to take this in a bad way, that's his/her own fault.

Now, of course it's good to be helpful, but that doesn't mean you need to be helpful. If somebody asks Alex S if he can get some tips or help on mixing properly, Alex doesn't need to answer if he doesn't want to. You all get the idea.

[Magnitude Zero]

I'm not sure if we want to focus on changing EqD here. That's something we've discussed a LOT here before, with only questionable success if any. EqD is a news site, first and foremost - they're going to post what the average brony wants to see/hear/read about because that's just how they work. And frankly the average brony does not really give a shit about a lesser-known pony musician trying to get some attention. Conversely, if Glaze released a pony song tomorrow it would be on EqD in an instant because he hasn't released a pony song in how long? It's newsworthy. The next song in AcoustiMandoBrony's Elements of Harmony series? Same deal. They don't really need the exposure, but it'll be posted because a sizable amount of bronies want it to be. We'd be hard-pressed to make them change what they care about and want to see on EqD.

However, what we can attempt to do is to bring back a sense of community to brony music. MLR is - or at least, tries to be - the "home" of brony musicians. But how many brony musicians know about and frequent the forums, and how many musicians here would actually call themselves or at least identify with brony musicians? I mean even around here we've got people scoffing at MLP, its fandom, and its musicians, like they see that it's not doing so well and want to distance themselves as much as possible so they aren't associated with it. It's also no secret that Toastbeard hasn't been doing as well as it used to - in part due to the pony hiatus, yeah, but overall on average it's taken a noticeable dip in participation. RW7 had only a fraction of the participation of RW5 and that's arguably our biggest community-driven event. It's pretty clear that brony musicians are falling out of touch with each other, preferring to make their music on their own or with small groups rather than take part in the community.

I couldn't tell you what exactly has been causing this, but I do think it's more than a casual loss of interest. I also think it's something that we can actually, realistically do something about (as opposed to dicking around with EqD again) but it's gonna take more than season 4 of pony. But, uh... I have no idea what exactly that "something" is. Reviving the MLR tumblr idea would be a good start, I think, and then maybe we can play it by ear (haaa) from there?

[v.lossity]

I'm not sure if we want to focus on changing EqD here. ....

I agree completely. EqD is designed for consumers, so it should be focused on them. I do think it would be nice for lesser known artists to get on there, but you have to weigh that against the actual purpose of the site. It really wasn't made for us.

Also, about people saying pony music is dead or all the musicians are leaving and such; its really a self-fulfilling prophesy I think. I was on hiatus for a couple months until recently, and I know for me personally, hearing people just non-stop complaining about the big name musicians and Rainbow & Rooted was a really big turn-off and part of why I wasn't as active. I feel like the community is what we make it. If we say and think its dying, then its going to die, because we create the community with our thoughts and our words.

Personally, I'm going to be around for a while. It might not be perfect, but what we have here is community for musicians that's still pretty awesome and hard to find anywhere else <3

[Freewave]

You have people like Lavender, Alex S, Addictia, Makkon, and folks basically giving these newbies the cold shoulder, ignoring them, or even laughing at them for being pony fans or wanting to become good at music.

Artattack even admitted that he doesn't want to make pony music anymore because it wont make him more popular anymore haha. Yeah okay artattack.

Well ArtAttack Party sucked anyway, so screw him. :P

I don't want to repeat this through the thread but we DON'T diss fellow musicians on mlr whether you may have a negative view of them or not. Please keep individual artist names out of posts to keep this thread civil and continuing. Please.

[Mundius]

Apparently some people have forgotten the concept of EqD being a personal blog.

And ChocolateChicken could not be more wrong; Makkon and Lavender are without doubt the nicest musicians I have ever known. I don't know about Addictia and Alex S, though, since I don't follow their movements (and seriously, why should I), but I highly doubt they're jerks.

[ClaviSound]

how many brony musicians know about and frequent the forums

I've personally known about MLR since early 2013, and created an account in April, but didn't actually start frequenting it until later. I don't know if this is a consistent thing, but maybe a site reformat, or at least a little button that says "JOOOOIIIIN UUUUSSSSSS"?

One thing I've noticed is that MLR isn't advertised a lot outside of community albums, and even then it's not always explicit where those projects originated. Maybe it's just me being ignorant or blind and not seeing ads for it, but would it be possible for MLR to get itself on other fansites?

And it has nothing to do with the fact that these musicians are no longer making pony music. It is all about their arrogant attitude towards fans of the show and those who are inspired to make art by it, even though they used to be the same way.

General Mumble said something on tumblr about this as well, and what he said was extremely true.

I still think it's awfully hypocritical to agree with General Mumble's Tumblr post but still put all the blame on popular musicians. General Mumble was angrier with the lack of compassion to teach these less experienced musicians, not an attitude of "oh you make pony music so you can't be professional." It's not a general distaste of pony musicians that you seem to be making it out to be.

Sometimes, big names do step down and try to help people learn. But the thing is, the musicians who do that are quite rare because sometimes people take their criticisms (which, and I must stress this, are both valid and backed by experience and knowledge) and poo poo them, labeling them as "haters" or saying these musicians are jerks for criticizing. And as they say, the cap can only get burned so many times.

Before you start saying "bigger musicians are turning their backs on the smaller guys," these bigger musicians are still people. And it can get very tiring to try to help people only for them to lash out because they want to make music "their own way." What with the number of musicians at this point, you're inevitably going to get a reaction like that, and it doesn't exactly inspire you to nurture the community.

Yes, there's a disconnect. But it has less to do with the fact that these people have a lot of subscribers and more with the fact that these people have been doing this for a long time. If you're pouring your heart into your art, and others complain about you being a heartless critic, well, it don't make you feel good. And even though there are the people who are willing to swallow their pride and use your advice, after a while it just doesn't feel worth it to risk someone exploding for "ruthlessly pointing out every problem with it" or something.

Addendum: I'm not saying that it ISN'T the big names' fault either, but don't make them the sole focal point. This is just as much fault of musicians unwilling to improve themselves as it is popular musicians.

[Conduit]

You have people like Lavender, Alex S, Addictia, Makkon, and folks basically giving these newbies the cold shoulder, ignoring them, or even laughing at them for being pony fans or wanting to become good at music.

I would like to argue this. From what I've seen Lav has been nothing but helpful to those who ask, and while Makkon has moved on to do other things with his life, I've never seen him respond rudely to anyone. Can you honestly blame people for wanting to do whats best for themselves? All the people you listed are trying to make a living with music, and moving away from the fandom is kinda a part of that.

I've never talked to Addictia, or really seen how he treats people, so I can't make a comment there.

As for Alex S, wouldn't you get a little pissed off if for a while you made music for a show you loved, because you enjoyed making it and it inspired you, but once the inspiration faded everyone kept badgering you with "this song would be better with poni" every time you uploaded anything?

[ChocolateChicken]

I'll just point out that I never said anything is wrong with moving away from pony music, or ever claimed people should continue to make pony music. You guys should try to read and stop using such straw man arguments here haha. I also never said the musicians should constantly keep in touch with their fans and the community or argued against musicians not constantly keeping in touch with the fandom, as many others are arguing for some reason. That is misquoting and False Dilemma Fallacy (black and white thinking). Learn to read. That means you too, Lav.

For more about what I think on this situation, refer to General Mumble's post that Freewave posted on this thread, as I completely agree with it.

And Freewave, you are absolutely right and I should not have talked disrespectfully about specific people here on MLR. Editing my original post to correct this bad behavior now.

[Lavender_Harmony]

I'll just point out that I never said anything is wrong with moving away from pony music, or ever claimed people should continue to make pony music. You guys should try to read and stop using such straw man arguments here haha. I also never said the musicians should constantly keep in touch with their fans and the community or argued against musicians not constantly keeping in touch with the fandom, as many others are arguing for some reason. That is misquoting and False Dilemma Fallacy (black and white thinking). Learn to read. That means you too, Lav.

For more about what I think on this situation, refer to General Mumble's post that Freewave posted on this thread, as I completely agree with it.

And Freewave, you are absolutely right and I should not have talked disrespectfully about specific people here on MLR. Editing my original post to correct this bad behavior now.

Yet you leave all the ones in your praised, damage is already done, and I don't like you.

Also I and others were responding to all the comments in general, not just yours. Don't think you're the centre of attention in this thread, you're not special enough. Nor are you the OP.

if I was responding to you, specifically, I would have quoted your post.

Would you care to back up your statements you made towards me in your previous post?

[ChocolateChicken]

Also I and others were responding to all the comments in general, not just yours. Don't think you're the centre of attention in this thread, you're not special enough. Nor are you the OP.

if I was responding to you, specifically, I would have quoted your post.

Would you care to back up your statements you made towards me in your previous post?

I realize my post was not the center of attention, but several people were quoting to me and replying, so I responded to those people. And I thought you were responding to me partially because you mentioned a post aimed at you, and my post did mention you, so I thought you were referring to me.

As for backing up my statements, I suppose I will PM you, because I'm afraid we are already getting severely off-topic, and I shall not post personal discussions publicly. This post and yours (the one I am currently replying to) are already off topic as it is, and both posts should be removed by the mods.

[Freewave]

Words

Honestly I think people need to realize that you've made your own music, helped EQD try to work and have a good system, been a mod on MLR and try to inspire the community to be good musicians. I don't think people should be second guessing that former (and perhaps still current) commitment to this community. That's a ton of work and we don't expect that that you wouldn't get drained from that or that you haven't provided that in the past. People should show some gratitude.

People shouldn't be hitting up their idols or mlr mods for feedback on their tracks or music tips either. That's what mlr's music section is for (and the rest of the forum for helpful advice). That's what toast beard is for. That's what skype groups are for. That's what the reply button is for. That is what youtube, tutorials, and peers are for. It's not easy but no one is providing free lunches or should be. People need to work hard to get good results and they need to be willing to learn over a matter of years.

Would it be great if people had better communication within different levels of the community? Absolutely. I think there's a lot of issues that stem from this gap.

[ClaviSound]

You know what we need? More interaction between the higher-ups and the smaller people not on a talking basis, but on a musical basis.

When was the last time we had a big name put out a contest? On top of that, has a big name ever hosted anything that wasn't a remix contest?

The elders still have a responsibility to the village, and it would certainly get some people to do something if someone like AcousticBrony or SimGretina or EileMonty (or ANYONE with high standing in the fandom) were to issue a contest. Counting only musicians with 5k+ subs, which is pretty conservative, we're looking at 59 potential candidates here. That's no number to sneeze at. (by the way Freewave that list is outdated and you probably know but I'm just pointing it out)

Big names have the clout, so why don't they use it? I recall a while ago, The Jokerr (who's an independent rap artist, non-pony in case there was ever any doubt) issued a general contest, and even though it wasn't pony-related and a fairly difficult beat to rap over due to the raw power you had to have in your voice to sound good on it, MANY pony rappers performed verses over it. It's not like there would be disinterest in it; we have plenty of remixers and vocalists in the fandom, so why not put those numbers to good use?

So, I guess ultimately I'm gunning for two things here:

1. Big names start doing more contests and picking winners, which helps these musicians get exposure in a way that isn't EqD;

2. Big names also start issuing contests more for vocalists, which would counterbalance the overabundance of remix competitions.

Just saying, MandoPony sending out a call for people to sing harmonies on a song or Mic putting out a contest for a rap verse on one of his tracks or Feather publishing an acapella for people to produce over would be a lot more productive than this endless struggle to get popularity just by featuring on Equestria Daily enough times. It happened with Tombstone and Ibeabronyrapper, it happened with Glaze and H8_Seed, and it could happen a lot more times, with people who deserve the recognition, if these big musicians opened more of their featuring artist slots to the casual pony musician. It's cool that we get groups like Twenty Ten, because it's a great union, but let's see some brotherly (or sisterly, or whatever) love between big and small.

[Conduit]

I'll just point out that I never said anything is wrong with moving away from pony music, or ever claimed people should continue to make pony music. You guys should try to read and stop using such straw man arguments here haha. I also never said the musicians should constantly keep in touch with their fans and the community or argued against musicians not constantly keeping in touch with the fandom, as many others are arguing for some reason. That is misquoting and False Dilemma Fallacy (black and white thinking). Learn to read. That means you too, Lav.

For more about what I think on this situation, refer to General Mumble's post that Freewave posted on this thread, as I completely agree with it.

And Freewave, you are absolutely right and I should not have talked disrespectfully about specific people here on MLR. Editing my original post to correct this bad behavior now.

I really don't want to get into a fight here, if you want you can PM me about it, but my point was that none of the musicians you listed (and now replaced with an equally hateful edit) have any done any of the things your getting mad at them for. If you can't provide proof, don't go around claiming people are unhelpful assholes, it just makes you look like a dick.

Anyway, back on topic. I think brony music will increase in quality with the new season, especially if we host more events like balloon party to increase traffic. We also have a ton of great new musicians joining (CitricAcid I'm looking at you) so the quality hasn't really decreased, just the audience has.

[CitricAcid]

Anyway, back on topic. I think brony music will increase in quality with the new season, especially if we host more events like balloon party to increase traffic. We also have a ton of great new musicians joining (CitricAcid I'm looking at you) so the quality hasn't really decreased, just the audience has.

I don't know what to say. Thanks. I do hope things pick up when the new season starts. I'd like to get a chance to do a few collabs and contests and things before things finally go kaput. This fandom has given me some much needed motivation to actually compose stuff.

[Lavender_Harmony]

Words

Honestly I think people need to realize that you've made your own music, helped EQD try to work and have a good system, been a mod on MLR and try to inspire the community to be good musicians. I don't think people should be second guessing that former (and perhaps still current) commitment to this community. That's a ton of work and we don't expect that that you wouldn't get drained from that or that you haven't provided that in the past. People should show some gratitude.

People shouldn't be hitting up their idols or mlr mods for feedback on their tracks or music tips either. That's what mlr's music section is for (and the rest of the forum for helpful advice). That's what toast beard is for. That's what skype groups are for. That's what the reply button is for. That is what youtube, tutorials, and peers are for. It's not easy but no one is providing free lunches or should be. People need to work hard to get good results and they need to be willing to learn over a matter of years.

Would it be great if people had better communication within different levels of the community? Absolutely. I think there's a lot of issues that stem from this gap.

Thanks.

Do you know what drives the big names away from the community, aside from what I've mentioned? Threads like these that out people as being elitists or assholes who don't make time for musicians who are less popular.

A lot of the bigger musicians are that way because they put the work in and make stuff that is notable enough to be recognised. If you're not making good music, and you're acting as if you're entitled to the same degree of fame in the community as someone like d.Notive or Makkon, maybe you should step back and think.

I know I've spoken out about how my music gets ignored, but as said above, I've tried to help EqD in the past become a better system, and while I do agree that it's a personal blog, I know from experience Sethisto hasn't the foggiest when it comes to spotlighting music. That's why there is the pre-listeners, and they're a shambles, quite frankly. The problem there is I tried to make a change, and everyone would argue instead of collectively coming up with a solution.

And you can forget having any kind of tumblr or blog or site for getting tracks notoriety, it just won't happen. That needed to exist at the smart of the fandom, it's far too late now.

Don't expect big name musicians to give you a break, because for the most part it's not in their interest. if they promote someone, it's because they feel they deserve it, simple as that, and if you would stop seperating it as a whole 'us and them' and instead as one community, you'd have a lot less to worry about.

I'm done here, this thread is going in circles already.

[ganondox]

You know what we need? More interaction between the higher-ups and the smaller people not on a talking basis, but on a musical basis.

When was the last time we had a big name put out a contest? On top of that, has a big name ever hosted anything that wasn't a remix contest?

The elders still have a responsibility to the village, and it would certainly get some people to do something if someone like AcousticBrony or SimGretina or EileMonty (or ANYONE with high standing in the fandom) were to issue a contest. Counting only musicians with 5k+ subs, which is pretty conservative, we're looking at 59 potential candidates here. That's no number to sneeze at. (by the way Freewave that list is outdated and you probably know but I'm just pointing it out)

Big names have the clout, so why don't they use it? I recall a while ago, The Jokerr (who's an independent rap artist, non-pony in case there was ever any doubt) issued a general contest, and even though it wasn't pony-related and a fairly difficult beat to rap over due to the raw power you had to have in your voice to sound good on it, MANY pony rappers performed verses over it. It's not like there would be disinterest in it; we have plenty of remixers and vocalists in the fandom, so why not put those numbers to good use?

So, I guess ultimately I'm gunning for two things here:

1. Big names start doing more contests and picking winners, which helps these musicians get exposure in a way that isn't EqD;

2. Big names also start issuing contests more for vocalists, which would counterbalance the overabundance of remix competitions.

Just saying, MandoPony sending out a call for people to sing harmonies on a song or Mic putting out a contest for a rap verse on one of his tracks or Feather publishing an acapella for people to produce over would be a lot more productive than this endless struggle to get popularity just by featuring on Equestria Daily enough times. It happened with Tombstone and Ibeabronyrapper, it happened with Glaze and H8_Seed, and it could happen a lot more times, with people who deserve the recognition, if these big musicians opened more of their featuring artist slots to the casual pony musician. It's cool that we get groups like Twenty Ten, because it's a great union, but let's see some brotherly (or sisterly, or whatever) love between big and small.

Well AcousticBrony did host a contest, it was remixing a joke song they made to make it good, and it helped bring Yoka the Changeling to fame.

[ExoBassTix]

I haven't yet read everything in this thread (will do in a mo'), but I at least gotta say one thing now before it slips my mind later.

Community spirit, Freewave said.
I don't see it with most people.

There's one thing that I don't get though. People complain about how we're in a downward spiral, then continue not putting in effort to make us as a community thrive again. How ironic. It's like the ultimate pessimism, like you think it's an impossible (yet desired) concept, a thriving MLR in a time like this.
Why not just stop hanging your head and make that happen?

I can very much sense that people will blame inactivity on increased work or other outside factors.
How very coincidental that these outside factors start playing their game just when we're facing a low in the community.



Note that I didn't point this at anyone in particular. This is just a kick in the behind to those that this applies to, I think you can decide for yourself if you believe it does apply to you or not.

[ExoBassTix]

Oh, some things I have to reply to:

At this point, everyone knows and loves Glaze, Tombstone, Aviators, Alex S, ArtAttack, Silva, and the other early musicians;

Could you please speak for yourself? :/

What if all of a sudden, everypony started writing heavy metal, hip hop, or film music? That would change everyone's understanding of what brony music is. It would be fresh! But coordinating a change like that would be tough, if not impossible. Maybe there's other changes that can be made to the brony music scene that can redefine what it is?

I'm just sitting here, thinking [COUGH]Modern Dubstep/Drumstep[/COUGH]

4. Some people just don't like MLP anymore. Season 3 kinda sucked and so did EQGirls.

It really gets my hair in a knot reading how people call these things facts.
Freewave, label your personal opinions properly please.



Finally, a thought that came to me just now.
It happened some times before that a Skype conversation was suddenly about "digging up Silva's old pony music" or "listening to that awesome pony music Archie made" or something amongst these lines. When I voiced my humble opinion about their music, responses were suddenly all kinds of "HOW DARE YOU"s pointed at me.
Big deal. I don't like the music that most of these popular people make. Out of my head, the ONLY popular pony track that I know is

Spoiler personal opinion:

Archie - 20% Cooler

Not knowing ANYTHING about the popular dudes (and gals), simply not giving a buck about them and thus ignoring them, gives me a reason to believe that the brony music community isn't the place for me (even though I will stay because I'm a brony and because I love me some music), gauging from the responses to my opinions.
How come 90% of all popular brony people make Modern Dubstep

I'm going to make a bit of a mean comment here, but this is very much contradicting to the brony saying "love and tolerate".
I don't think my only irl brony friend will be happy if I nudged him in the direction of brony music. Or be like everyone else, clinging to the legs of those populars, kissing their flanks.



You know what's a funny thing to do?
Take your time to read through this entire thread, and mentally replace all "brony music" and similars to "Pop music".
Shitstorm-provocative (white-texted): Big Room House is to the Pop music what Modern Dubstep/Drumstep is to the brony music.

[Fimbulin]

I know some of us get extremely busy with college and stuff. I understand because that's where I am. I've never really "made it" in the brony music world, but I've earned plenty of money on my projects that aren't related to MLP. What the forums has given me is friends and reliable people like Lavender, Makkon, Orchestral Design, Fluffaton, and Dr. Dissonance with whom I occasionally (albeit rarely) talk to in skype. I think my problem is that there aren't enough hours in the day for me to effectively help out here. I've still got my thread open (which I will reply to) and will respond to skype chats when I've got the time. I can't do all sorts of contests and things, but I'm willing to help out sometimes.
Also, when asking for feedback, ask specific questions. It helps us understand where you are at so we don't immediately discard your request. Too often I get "is this track good?" Apart from the "bigger names" in the fandom, I haven't ever gotten a question of this nature: "what do you think of my chording here __timestamp__? I think it sounds a bit off but I wanted a second opinion."

[ExoBassTix]

I agree. It's demotivating to have to write an entire detailed track review (which I like to do from time to time, don't get me wrong) every time to get the feeling the request for feedback is satisfied. It takes me a lot of time and concentration, and I'm not always in the mood to do these reviews.

I recommend someone of the mods to make an announcement thread in the general music feedback subforum requesting people to ask for specific feedback, as it's not really common knowledge to ask for that (I know I've never thought about it).

Though I really don't get how I'm being on-topic xD but at least it's out now, it could be one step further to better community spirit I guess.

[Captain Ironhelm]

but i deserve to have aviators tell me my mixing is bad because youtube and google have no tutorials on that sort of thing and i am entitled to having all EQD traffic subbed to my youtube, because i am just that awesome.

i think i'll make music "only for music's sake", then get butthurt because i am dependent on a single promotional blog for my success. that place shouldn't be for general trending MLP content. sethisto, rename my "Equestria Daily" blog to "Captain Ironhelm's Music". and where's my hand-outs, woodentoaster, makkon, alex s, d.notive, alllevelsatonce, lavender harmony, and any other "big names" that i missed. you owe me big time because i am jealous that i missed out on a fad that is now oversaturated with newbie music like i make.

[Freewave]

4. Some people just don't like MLP anymore. Season 3 kinda sucked and so did EQGirls.

It really gets my hair in a knot reading how people call these things facts.
Freewave, label your personal opinions properly please.

Gotta read and give people the benefit of the doubt and respect other opinions....i never said this was a fact.

I do spend time on other mlp forums to gather what some people have stated. Some people jumped ship during season 3 for those reasons. Some people have publicly said they do not like the show anymore. Deal (and don't attack the messenger). ;)

[Alycs]

That's not what we're saying. Actually, its almost the exact opposite. A single blog (EqD in this example) shouldn't be the sole motivator and arbiter of music. The famous musicians might have gotten lucky by being the first on the scene (though most of them do deserve the attention [and for a number of them coughLavenderHarmonyandMakkoncough they probably deserve even more]), but its not like we don't have great musicians now.

Yes, the scene is super-saturated with everyone from near professionals to complete rookies, but its pretty much equally hard for each to get recognition. I think Freewave's idea for a musician tumblr, featuring fandom musicians selected by other fandom musicians, is a great idea for this very reason. It basically would act as a second chance for anew wave of musicians.

[Freewave]

So ideas of how to move forward:

An mlr linked tumblr.

Something that tips fellow musicians off to good peer music, events, wtf is going on in the fandom. So that fellow musicians WANT to subscribe and be in touch with each other and that can tie back into whats goign on at mlr. With a myriad of authors and guest opinions. That can fill people's tumblr feed with whats still happening in the music side of this fandom. Asking people what THEY like and who they SHOULD be listening to. Getting people to look around them. Written interviews perhaps. Highlighting toastbeard each week, getting that back off the ground, updates on events / compilations when deadlines are weekly or twice monthly so that those get done on TIME and people are well aware..

It's not going to be about listener panels or submit your music track thats too small an idea and already done. Too micro-managing

I'd like it to feel like the "people's blog" and not some corporate entity that's run by people who don't care about all levels of this fanbase. Not some person's blog but something that everyone has a stake in. Multiple authors.

"My Little Reboot" if you will.