Cherax

Perhaps both options are needed? No-one's really going to want to listen to the acapella of a song - that should be kept as an additional file for the benefit of remixers. (On that note, adding a 'Download Stems' function would be amazing, but possibly a strain on the server, and not warranted by enough demand...) But instrumentals are songs in their own right, and listeners would want the instrumental version available to stream from the site. It could just be uploaded as a separate track under the current system, or you could have it linked it to the original like you suggested.

Ooh, this could be good. The TB-style popular vote could work, or the track list could be decided by the Featured Music panelists, if that's going ahead (I can't remember if it is or not...!). Dangit, I have no idea how to embed from pony.fm. I humbly submit this old-fashioned URL link, and included song, for your consideration.

^ this. A lot of the orchestral music in the fandom strays far from the traditions of Classical music in terms of structure, arrangement, tonality, blah blah. I'm not sure I've heard any real "Classical" music in the fandom! (It's probably out there.) If you were to condense the two into one tag, Classical/Orchestral, that might be enough. On a very literal level, a lot of what I would refer to as IDM is indeed electronic music that makes you dance, and should *theoretically* be able to be called EDM. Buuut, EDM is used to refer to specific kinds of electronica generally made for club settings - including house, dubstep, and all their myriad subgenres - but not to what I would call IDM. Basically, I mean any kind of modern-ish electronica that wouldn't be played at a club! (Compare tracks from Archie or Aviators to those from , , or , and you'll see what I mean.) I think we need a genre tag for this. "Electronica" would suffice if it came down to it.

When looking at the Tracks charts, the "Artist" column should be over on the left side of the player, to reflect how we commonly label songs. Whether you'd want it to the left or right of "Title" is debatable. I organise my music as Artist - Title, so I personally would prefer it on the left, but not everyone tags like that. Or: you could make the column order customisable. That seems excessive for the moment, but if you're going to introduce new criteria to organise charts by later on, and therefore add more columns, it might be cool. If they're movable, you could probably resize them too, which is always nice! I know nothing about web coding, though - all that might be a huge hassle. :|

Thank you! You fill me with happiness, my sweet walrus. I'll be over there right away. I genuinely can't wait to drown in the ceaseless ocean of fan art and music.

Here is a fun fact, one which has been a source of boundless joy to me in the past month: if you record yourself rapping, then pitch-shift the recording down about two semitones with appropriate tempo warping, you will sound awesome. (Assuming you already have good lyrics and flow, of course.) This is very handy for us white folk - you may not have to outsource your rapping.

Genres, and song names themselves, can tell you a little bit about what to expect from a new song, but often they won't provide much information. Perhaps artists might want to give more detailed descriptions of applicable sub-genres when their music is tagged as EDM. Or, when sci uploads music to EQD, it is classified as "weird" or "chill-out," and those don't paint a very detailed picture… And when I want to convince someone to listen to a song of mine, I want to say a bit more than its title and "it's Other!" To this end, I'd love it if the track description would pop up when you hovered over a song name on the charts page - like a tool-tip, but better looking - so you can get a little more info about the song before pressing play, but without having to leave the Charts page, because yay streamlining. Here's a little mock-up (this was good Photoshop practice ). Yea or nay? Yay or neigh?

Thank you all for the warm welcome! I'm certainly off to a very good start here on the forums. Oh, don't worry, I've got it covered. Just look at how Sweetie modestly hides her navel with a milkshake. She knows what's what.

Goodness! You work quickly indeed. Awesome I suppose there isn't anything wrong with a huge comment box. I think I'm just used to seeing smaller ones on music websites (Soundcloud, Youtube). So, feel free to disregard point 4.

Cherax, ready for duty! Here's what I have to say about the current design of track pages. Apologies if you'd prefer these as separate threads, but... efficiency... D: White space! When a song is listed as "from [an album title]," that extra line of text generates a whole bunch of white space in the top-centre of the page. It's a bit confusing and wasteful. You could move the "from [album title]" line somewhere more practical. The "Follow" function is missing. Having to go to the artist's page to Follow them is just one extra click that might turn a whole bunch of lazy people away! When you click "Add to playlist" but don't actually have any playlists, it tells you "no playlists." It'd be nice to have the option appear, like in Youtube's Video Manager, to create a new playlist and add the song to it in one go. The comment box… it's huge! Dauntingly huge.

It looks like there's quite a cool bunch people on deck already. Good to know! I'm Cherax Destructor - Cherax or Cherry for short. I've been making music for as long as I can remember. I've been making music that's actually half-way decent (ymmv) for about a year. This is about as long as I've been making pony music. Coincidence? I try not to stay in one genre too much, but I carry a belt full of favourite sounds and production techniques from one style to the next. I'm don't think I'm there just yet, but I'm aiming to make music that makes you say, "weird, but cool...!" You will nowadays find me writing mostly instrumental hip-hop and slightly dance-y music, often leaning towards a relaxed and/or 'cute' feel. I'm in love with reverb, glitched guitar, and chiptune synths. I just can't resist ending songs with huge post-rock crescendos. I found pony.fm via DusK, whose frustration with EQD's pre-listening panel struck a chord. Brony musicians and music fans alike deserve something better, and I'm putting my vote behind this project here.

I agree with feld0's actions in limiting the number of genres, but alas, I am therefore confined to the confusing genre of Other. Ah, Other... my old arch enemy... You should consider adding Ambient and Orchestral (I think this is a better name for what Soundtrack is aiming for). Both genres are quite common in the fandom. And, is it possible to get Intelligent Dance Music / IDM on the list? It's an umbrella term that is rather vague (which is why I feel comfortable using it!), but generally refers to electronic music with an emphasis on unusual sounds and tempos that EDM doesn't use. In the fandom, IDM would apply to artists like me, sci, Neonstorm, Jackle App (sometimes), Seventh Element, MandraSigma, Nosnibormada - perhaps enough to genuinely warrant its inclusion.

Well, hi! Cherax Destructor here. I live in Sydney, Australia, and make music that is becoming increasingly related to cartoon horses. I also waste my free time by dicking around on websites that are becoming increasingly related to cartoon horses. A brief history: I've been making music since forever; watching the show for close to two years; following the community's activity for a year and a half; making for a year; and haunting My Little Remix for half a year. If you're feeling amiable, call me Cherry.