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We’re a little over 2 months away from Ponyville Ciderfest 2018. Guests of Honor are announced, and vendor invoices are getting paid. Community guests are being selected, and panel applications are being reviewed. Most importantly right now however, contracts are being sent out to musicians and we’re getting ready to announce our lineup for what we’ve been calling “the biggest brony music festival ever”. We’ve been starting to get questions from various people about what that claim actually means, so we’d like to take a moment to explain things.

First, let’s get this out of the way – there will be plenty to do and see for people that aren’t into the music of the show and fandom. Ciderfest staples like the Grand Galloping Gala, Guest of Honor Panels including the Saturday Script Reading, Thirsty Thursday Pub Trot, Cider Tasting Panel, Trotter’s Cider Bar, Cider Lounge, Charity Bake Off, Charity Auction and of course tons of panels hosted by Community Guests and other panelists will still be there! So no worries about that.

The Plan

That said: Ponyville Ciderfest 2018 will be a music-centric fan convention, focusing on the music of the show and from the fandom. Putting together a Guest of Honor roster that highlights the music of the show was one thing, but a lot more time and effort has been put into the fandom side of the picture. PVCF18 will feature dozens of talented fandom musicians, who are travelling from all over to entertain you throughout the weekend. We’re not certain just yet that the number of musicians on our roster will be the largest on a MLP con schedule ever, but we are confident that we will be shining the brightest and biggest light ever on the incredible and diverse musical talent in the MLP:FiM fandom.

From the beginning, the planning of the convention has geared itself towards showcasing the vast array of awesome musical content that exists within the fandom. To this end, for the first time, we have a dedicated Music Programming (MP) Team whose sole focus is the selection, management, and scheduling of music performances, events and panels. More on their members in a bit.

One of the very first goals given to the MP Team was that there is to be music being performed somewhere in the convention at all times. This could be anything from a headline performance on our Mane Stage to a more intimate acoustic set in a panel room; to a scheduled performance on our new Apple Orchard Side Stage or a karaoke or open mic event. The intention is so that at any time, if you want to hear music, there will be a place in the convention for you to go.

The Lineup

With this goal in mind, the MP Team has selected an amazing lineup of fandom musicians. Given the high volume of excellent applications we received, priority was afforded to those who demonstrated a combination of skill and ability in production and performance, alongside their level of recent activity in the fandom music scene. The MP Team feels it is important that all of the performers are able to put on a fantastic, high quality performance.  Additional consideration weighed heavily toward those applicants that continue to actively release fandom content and/or are recognizable as superstar musicians in the fandom.

A majority of the performers that will be featured on the Mane Stage have had features on Equestria Daily, been promoted on Cider Party, and have taken part in large, compilation projects like Ponies At Dawn. We also believe there is an exceptional balance between veteran, big-name musicians as well as newer and less recognized performers who will have a great opportunity to showcase their top-notch abilities.

In addition, there are also some outstanding performers that will have scheduled performances on our Apple Orchard Stage, which will be in the Apple Orchard atrium area of the convention. Evolving the traditionally basic “renegade stage” into a proper performance stage will help to keep the music playing all day long as planned. Plus, in addition to those musicians offered stage slots in advance, con-goers with their own music to share will have the opportunity to sign up for 30 minute intervals to perform on this stage as well!

While we trust that these performers know their audience and will do their best to demonstrate the fantastic music of this fandom, we are quite serious about putting on an event that celebrates fandom music more than anything. As a result, all announced musicians will have signed a performance contract that requires their set to consist of a minimum of 70% fandom music, measured by time. While we don’t intend on being draconian about this policy, setting the bar will help you be confident that there will be tons of awesome pony tunes showcased throughout the convention!

The Team

Given the enormous amount of time and planning that all this will require, it was critical that the MP Team consist of people who care strongly about the musical side of the fandom, and are well and truly up to date with it as well. We’d like to introduce that team to you now. The members of the Ponyville Ciderfest 2018 Music Programming Team are:

Forest Rain – Department Head: A well-known brony musician since the early days of the fandom; Forest Rain has thorough experience in organizing music events at fandom conventions. She has also coordinated multiple brony mega-collaborations, and is an active contributor to the fandom to this day.

BluNoseReindeer: An active brony musician for several years, and the person responsible for Musician Relations for every Ponyville Ciderfest and Whinny City since PVCF2016, BluNose also has extensive experience as music staff for multiple years of many different conventions.

ExplodingPonyToast: The head of music promotion for Equestria Daily since 2016, EPT has been at the forefront of the Ponies At Dawn music compilation since 2013, and also helps manage other musical promotion groups such as Horse Music Herald and Cider Party. If you have any questions, you can contact him on Discord at: ExplodingPonyToast#6212

Luck Rock: An active fandom rock musician and promoter; Luck has worked music staff at other pony conventions. He is a guest writer for the brony music promotion site Horse Music Herald and an active staff member for the brony EDM promotion channel Cider Party. If you have any questions, you can contact him on Discord at: Luck Rock#4180

Lycan: A fandom music lover with his own show on PonyvilleFM radio where he discusses and plays recent fandom hits, Lycan is also head of “Lycan Dese Beats” – an annual charity compilation album that has been going strong for the last 4 years. He has also been music lead at other pony conventions.

We hope this has cleared up some questions that you may have had. We are VERY excited about our music lineup this year, and the Music Programming Team hopes that this post has proven that they will ensure that Ponyville Ciderfest 2018 will be a convention that music lovers will never forget!

Sincerely – Forest, Blu, EPT, Luck, and Lycan

Our musician lineup will be announced in the coming weeks! Stay tuned!