What exactly is Pony.fm, anyway?
-Some My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic fans - typically referred to as "bronies" are the musical type, and show their appreciation for the show by pouring their talent into fan music. -
The brony fan music community is diverse, spanning genres from symphonic metal to trance and everything in between. But most importantly, the community creates music.
-A lot of music.
-All this music has to go somewhere. YouTube, SoundCloud, and Bandcamp are popular outlets that many brony musicians use to host their tunes. But no mainstream sites are specifically designed for our fandom's needs, and they're not particularly helpful if, as a listener, you're looking for pony fan music.
-That's where Pony.fm comes in. Pony.fm is a community, hosting service, and music database rolled into one, with a generous dash of pony on top.
+What exactly is Pony.fm, anyway?
+Some My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic fans - typically referred to as "bronies" are the musical type, and show their appreciation for the show by pouring their talent into fan music. +
The brony fan music community is diverse, spanning genres from symphonic metal to trance and everything in between. But most importantly, the community creates music.
+A lot of music.
+All this music has to go somewhere. YouTube, SoundCloud, and Bandcamp are popular outlets that many brony musicians use to host their tunes. But no mainstream sites are specifically designed for our fandom's needs, and they're not particularly helpful if, as a listener, you're looking for pony fan music.
+That's where Pony.fm comes in. Pony.fm is a community, hosting service, and music database rolled into one, with a generous dash of pony on top.
-So it's SoundCloud with ponies?
-Eenope!
-Pony.fm is an original project. Although it takes inspiration from a number of well-known services for the general public, Pony.fm is not specifically modeled after any one of them. As a fan site itself, Pony.fm is an experience all its own.
-Simply put, "Pony.fm is Pony.fm."
+So it's SoundCloud with ponies?
+Eenope!
+Pony.fm is an original project. Although it takes inspiration from a number of well-known services for the general public, Pony.fm is not specifically modeled after any one of them. As a fan site itself, Pony.fm is an experience all its own.
-What makes Pony.fm special?
-Pony.fm is a service created by bronies, for bronies. Every inch of the Pony.fm experience is crafted with ponies and bronies in mind. Some of the features necessarily resemble what you may find on other sites - lossless uploads, for example - but some features are specific to the pony fan music community.
-Created as a service for the fandom, Pony.fm aims to be the one-stop shop for all things pony music, for artists and listeners alike.
+What makes Pony.fm special?
+Pony.fm is a service created by bronies, for bronies. Every inch of the Pony.fm experience is crafted with ponies and bronies in mind. Some of the features necessarily resemble what you may find on other sites - lossless uploads, for example - but some features are specific to the pony fan music community.
+Created as a service for the fandom, Pony.fm aims to be the one-stop shop for all things pony music, for artists and listeners alike.
-What does MLP Forums have to do with Pony.fm?
-MLP Forums and Pony.fm share an owner, and each encompasses a different segment of the global My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic community. Put together, both sites are able to offer a richer "supercommunity" experience than either site could offer on its own.
+What does MLP Forums have to do with Pony.fm?
+MLP Forums and Pony.fm share an owner, and each encompasses a different segment of the global My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic community. Put together, both sites are able to offer a richer "supercommunity" experience than either site could offer on its own.
-Who is behind Pony.fm?
-Pony.fm was created by Feld0, a pony-loving teenager who heard the call of code. Recognizing the need for a true pony-specific music hosting site, and realizing that MLP Forums provided him with the resources he needed to make it happen, he created a blank text file and started pumping code into his computer.
-The site is now maintained by him and Nelson LaQuet as part of the Poniverse network.
-Who is behind Pony.fm?
+Pony.fm was created by Feld0, a pony-loving teenager who heard the call of code. Recognizing the need for a true pony-specific music hosting site, and realizing that MLP Forums provided him with the resources he needed to make it happen, he created a blank text file and started pumping code into his computer.
+The site is now maintained by him and Nelson LaQuet as part of the Poniverse network.
Pony.fm FAQ
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-
- Why doesn't Pony.fm support MP3 files? -
- Why isn't my file being accepted for Upload? -
- How do I Upload a song? -
- How do you set an avatar? -
- Why the connection to MLP Forums? -
- How do I send Feedback to the Developers? -
- What is the "Poniverse" and what does Pony FM have to do with it? -
- Can I view any site statistics? -
- How do I get in contact with other Musicians on Pony.fm? -
- How do I report someone? -
- How do I download an artist' song? -
Pony.fm FAQ
+Why doesn't Pony.fm support MP3 uploads?
- -Why doesn't Pony.fm support MP3 files?
-MP3 encoding is "lossy." Lossy means that, during the encoding process, quality gets sacrificed for a decrease in size.
-Pony.fm does not provide only MP3's; it also provides OGG's and lossless FLAC's. Uploading a lossless file puts a "perfect" copy of your track in Pony.fm's file store, which can be offered up for download on its own for audiophiles who like CD or better-than-CD sound quality, but starting from a lossless original also allows Pony.fm to transcode a song to other lossy formats with only one degree of loss.
+MP3 encoding is "lossy." Lossy means that, during the encoding + process, quality gets sacrificed for a decrease in size.
-Pony.fm accepts a lossless upload, which is converted to FLAC (if it isn't already FLAC) for storage. This leaves a "perfect," unblemished copy of the track in Pony.fm's file store.
-An MP3 file can be created from the FLAC. Minimal quality is lost because creating an MP3 from the FLAC is as good as creating an MP3 directly from your DAW.
-An OGG Vorbis file can be created from the FLAC. Minimal quality is lost because Pony.fm has a lossless copy of the track on file; thus, we don't have the "recompressing a compressed MP3" issue that is present if Pony.fm's "master file" was an MP3.
+Pony.fm accepts lossless uploads, which put a "perfect" copy of + your track in Pony.fm's file store. This is offered up for + download on its own for audiophiles who like CD or better-than-CD + sound quality, but starting from a lossless original also allows + Pony.fm to transcode a song to other lossy formats with only one + degree of loss.
- -Why isn't my file being accepted for Upload?
-Pony.fm analyzes all uploads to determine their format and check it against a whitelist; the file extension is ignored. Unfortunately, slight variations in AIFF and WAV files exist that need to be individually whitelisted.
-The alpha should have nailed most of these by now, but if there are some that still are not being accepted, contact an admin with the specific file details and they will try to add them to the White List.
- -How do I Upload a song?
-At the top right of your screen there should be a button titled "Upload" next to the "send feedback" one. Select the Upload button and a drop down menu will appear, select the first option titled "Track Uploader". You should now be on a screen displaying the uploader. Select the Green button titled "Add Files" and select your song from your computer. The track should now start its download.
-Please be aware that Pony.fm doesn't support MP3 uploads.
+Why isn't my file being accepted for upload?
- -How do you set an avatar?
-Avatars in Pony.fm use a free service called Gravatar. To learn more about it, and setup your own Gravatar account, click here!
+Pony.fm analyzes all uploads to determine their format and check it + against a whitelist; the file extension is ignored. Unfortunately, + slight variations in AIFF and WAV files exist that need to be + individually whitelisted.
- -Why the connection to MLP Forums?
-MLP Forums is one of the web's largest and most well known My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic forum communities. Formally linking the two sites together paves the way for a rich, cross-site community experience. Members of one site can easily jump into the other without the hassle of managing yet another account, and content can seamlessly be brought from MLP Forums to Pony.fm and vice versa in meaningful ways.
+Most of these should have been nailed by now, but if yours isn't being + accepted, contact feld0@pony.fm + with + a + copy of the file you're trying to upload and we'll sort it out! +
- -How do I send Feedback to the Developers?
-At the top of your page should be a nifty little button to the left of the upload button that says "Send Feedback".
-Click this and a form will pop up, just follow the two simple instructions and enter the information needed and click "submit".
-All feedback is greatly appreciated on Pony FM and we do our hardest to keep this site functional and to keep all of you happy.
- -What is the "Poniverse" and what does Pony FM have to do with it?
-The Poniverse is a network that links together several Brony sites ,such as MLP Forums, together to form a super community of sorts that provides sites that satisfy everyone's needs.
-Pony FM is just one of those sites and sets out to provide Brony Musicians with their own special corner to share their work with others and to receive feedback from other musicians, and in lots of cases to form collaborations that can end up in great partnerships.
+How do I upload a song?
- -Can I view any site statistics?
-You sure can!
-At the bottom left of your screen there is a small button that says Site Stats that's nestled just below a button for Pony.fm Forum.
-Click on the "Site Stats" button and you will be taken to a screen that shows you graphs depicting the number of Track Views, Track Downloads, Track Plays and User Registrations.
+At the top right of your screen there should be a button titled + "Upload" next to the "send feedback" one. Select the Upload button + and a drop down menu will appear, select the first option titled + "Track Uploader". You should now be on a screen displaying the + uploader. Select the Green button titled "Add Files" and select your + song from your computer. The track should now start its + download.
- -How do I get in contact with other Musicians on Pony.fm?
-On each user's screen there is a nifty little section where you can leave comments. This is used best for providing feedback and to show them your support, but if you plan on trying to start a collaboration and would prefer a more private means of communication, underneath the user Bio, there is a "send a message" which will utilise the "Personal Messenger" from MLP Forums to allow you to send a message to that artist.
+Please be aware that Pony.fm doesn't support MP3 uploads.
- -How do I report someone?
-At the current time a report feature isn't quite installed into the site, however, email feld0@pony.fm and he would be glad to handle any moderating issues that you have. But to reiterate what was said before, there IS a report function in the works.
- -How do I download an artist' song?
-Click on the song that you are looking to download and you will notice to the right of the screen is a button titled "Downloads".
-Click this button and you will be brought a drop down menu with FLAC, MP3, OGG, AAC and ALAC file types for you to download.
-Select your preferred file type to start the download and it should all be smooth sailing from there.
-How do I set an avatar?
+ +Avatars in Pony.fm use a free service called Gravatar. To learn more and + set up your own Gravatar account, click + here!
+ +Why the connection to MLP Forums?
+ +MLP Forums is the web's largest My + Little Pony: Friendship is Magic forum community. Formally + linking the two sites together paves the way for a rich, cross-site + community experience. Members of one site can easily jump into the + other without the hassle of managing yet another account, and + content can seamlessly be brought from MLP Forums to Pony.fm and + vice versa in meaningful ways.
+ + +How do I send feedback to the developers?
+ +Three ways! Choose whichever you're most comfortable with:
+ +-
+
- Post your feedback in the official + Pony.fm forum. + +
- Email Feld0, Pony.fm's lead developer. + +
- Open a GitHub issue. + +
All feedback is greatly appreciated on Pony.fm and we do our hardest + to keep this site functional and to keep all of you happy.
+ + +What is the "Poniverse" and what does Pony.fm have to do with + it?
+ +Poniverse is a + network that + links together several pony communities like MLP + Forums, Equestria.tv, + and PoniArcade + to form + a + "supercommunity" with something for everypony.
+ +Pony.fm is just one of those sites and it provides brony musicians with + their own special corner to share their work with + others and to receive feedback from other musicians, and in lots of + cases to form collaborations that can end up in great + partnerships.
+ + +How do I report someone?
+ +Email feld0@pony.fm + with any + moderation issues you have.
+ + +How do I download a song?
+ +Click on the track that you are looking to download and you will + notice to the right of the screen is a button titled "Downloads".
+ +Click this button and you will be brought a drop down menu with FLAC, + MP3, OGG, AAC, and ALAC files for you to download.
+ +Select your preferred file type to start the download and it should + all be smooth sailing from there.
+ +Note: if "Downloads" button is greyed out, + that means the artist has disabled downloads on that track.
MLP Forums Advertising Program
+What does Pony.fm want from musicians?
+ +Want from probably isn't the best way to put it. Pony.fm + wants + to provide brony musicians with the best package of services for hosting + their music. We also want to provide musicians with free advertising + space right on the homepage of + MLP + Forums + to be seen by its userbase of + over 32,000 registered members. And we want to provide your listeners + with the best experience to listen to your music. All we ask in exchange + is for musicians to use Pony.fm as their home base of sorts for their + music hosting needs. We understand musicians want to continue to upload + their music to a wide array of music hosting sites, and we can respect + that. All we ask is that you use your Pony.fm link any time you send + someone to download or listen to a song.
+ +Sound like an interesting proposal? Then read on!
+ + +Why should I host my music on Pony.fm?
+ +We understand brony musicians have a lot of choices when it comes to + where to host their music. But Pony.fm is engineered specifically to be + the best site for My Little Pony fan music!
+ +But why, specifically, should you choose Pony.fm? The better question + is: why wouldn't you?
+ +Pony.fm exclusively hosts My Little Pony fan content! Ask + yourself, how + exactly would a user with no knowledge of your music find you from the + SoundCloud or Bandcamp homepage? A search for Pony music will yield + thousands of unspecific results. A genre search will fill the page with + music unrelated to bronies. Unless the user is looking for your song + specifically, it's difficult for them to find it.
+ +Pony.fm addresses this problem by removing the non-brony music from the + equation entirely, allowing users to search for genres, styles, or even + specify a specific show song they want to hear a remix of and get + nothing but relevant results. This means Pony.fm's listeners spend less + time searching for your music and more time listening to it!
+ +Pony.fm also proides you with features that sites like SoundCloud and + Bandcamp don't. With Pony.fm, you can offer streaming and unlimited + downloads. You'll never run out of free downloads again!
+ +Other artists have turned to file sharing sites for music downloads due + to the limitations of sites like SoundCloud, but because of the risks of + unknown downloads, many users simply will not trust links to file + sharing sites. File sharing sites also have limitations. Since they host + specific files, you're forced to provide an additional upload and + link + for every individual file type and quality you want to offer listeners. + These sites are also designed only for linking to files from an external + site, eliminating any chance that users will find your music through the + file sharing site itself. On Pony.fm your listeners will be exposed to + your branding, your music, your tags, and much more allowing you to get + the most out of every valuable click to your download.
+ +Sites like YouTube aren't designed to be used as music hosting sites, + playing significantly reduced quality lossy audio files to allow for the + bandwidth of the video. Pony.fm, however, is designed for music, + providing high quality music streams to your listeners. + + Pony.fm is all around the best balance of features designed + specifically for brony musicians.
+ +Beyond everything else, using Pony.fm brings you into the Poniverse + supercommunity! Not only will users be able to give you valuable + feedback right on Pony.fm's comment system, but with one login, you'll + unlock all the features of the Poniverse network. Want to show off your + music to MLP Forum's 32,000+ members? How would you like to get tips + and + tricks from fellow musicians in our Creative Resources area? Or would + you just like to relax and spend some time talking about your favorite + episode? Want to host a live-stream on Equestria.tv? All of that and + much more is possible when you unlock the power of your Poniverse login! + With Poniverse, Pony.fm isn't just a music hosting or + download + site - + it's a community made for bronies, by bronies!
+ + +All right, I get it; it's got some nice features. I'll upload + some + songs. But what's this about linking to my songs on Pony.fm? Why + should + I?
+ +So you want more than just great features? We respect that, because we + want more, too. Pony.fm already houses the largest collection of brony + music on the planet as the official host of the MLP Music Archive, but + we want to bring Pony.fm to the next level as the go-to place for people + to find and post music in this fandom, and we need your support as a + musician to do it!
+ +Every time you post a download link on YouTube or share a link to a song + on Twitter, Facebook, or any other site, you're deciding which + experience you want to give your listeners. We think Pony.fm provides + the best experience for bronies to listen to fan music and we want you + to share in that belief!
+ +So we're offering a special incentive to those that go the extra mile + and help share Pony.fm with the community by using the Pony.fm link to + their song whenever possible! We're giving you a + banner + ad right smack + on the front page of Poniverse's largest site for absolutely + free.
+ +Why? Because we want the members of MLP Forums to listen to your + music + on Pony.fm just as bad as you do! That advertisement to your music is + also an advertisement to try Pony.fm, so it benefits everybody involved! + You get users being sent directly to your music page on Pony.fm, we get + new users checking out Pony.fm that are interested in your music, and + the listener gets an awesome new site to find pony tunes on!
+ +Okay… that's cool. I'm in! What do I need to do?
+ +It's super simple!
+ +-
+
- Upload your music to + Pony.fm. + +
- If you've previously linked to song downloads to SoundCloud, + Bandcamp, + or a file sharing service in the description of YouTube videos, + consider + switching those links over to Pony.fm to ensure the best possible + experience for your listeners! + + +
-
+
Once it's uploaded, fill out this + form. This gets the + ball rolling on + getting you free advertising. To further expedite the process of + getting + you ad-space, include a 540x200 image for your advertisement + like + this one:
+ +
+ +
+ Note: the ad will be scaled down to 270x100 pixels + when displayed on MLP Forums).
+
+
+
+ - Wait for a reply! We'll review your application and get back to + you + as + soon as possible with confirmation that you'll be included in + the + program and more details! If you didn't provide an advertisement + or + if + there are any issues with your advertisement image, we'll help + you + get + one ready to go at this stage! + + +
- Once your advertisement is up, start using your Pony.fm links + anywhere + you link to a song! + +
I've got to admit it sounds neat, but I'm skeptical. Who can I + contact + for more information or answers to my questions?
+ +Just shoot a message to Poniverse's Head of Public Relations, Simon, + at + simon@poniverse.net and he'll + be happy to answer any questions you have about Pony.fm and the + advertising deal offered here!
+