Thoughts on "Open Mic" nights?

[Brent Hahn]

These days there's actually lots of overlap between open-mic (and live performance in general) and karaoke. Fans of many genres outside the solo-singer-guitarist realm are not only tolerant of at least a partial "memorex factor," they expect it. I predict that in the upcoming season of Saturday Night Live, the number of musical acts who actually perform entirely Live will be less than two.

[RedJoker]

Originally Posted by slimey

.... one of them runs the very popular singer songwriter challenge on Facebook....

Is this something you can share here?

[troystory92]

Depends how good of a friend you and the person requesting you to sit in are. I love jamming with my friends, for free. But if you don't want to, then just tell him.

I like open mics because they were my first venture into playing in front of people and was the first place I played for an extended period of time (40 mins as the featured open mic artist). Now I do 30-40 paying gigs a year, part time. I hardly ever do open mics any more but encourage fellow musicians to do them to "scratch the itch"

As far as an establishment doing open mics rather than paying gigs, that's their prerogative and the nature of performing. If the juice isn't worth the squeeze, why buy the fruit? It's not good or bad, just the way it is.

[slimey]

Here's the challenge , per request.

https://www.facebook.com/singersongw...mmerchallenge/

[terrypl]

Long thread, not sure if anyone will get this far, but here's my perspective as a former bar owner who ran a successful, popular open stage for 10 years:

We had live entertainment 5 to 7 nights a week, all paid except one night of open stage, which was as popular among both musicians and audience as the the other nights. Why? Because it allowed skilled musicians to play without any pressure or expectations, it allowed novices to see what they could do, it allowed audiences to enjoy an unpredictable, energetic, unscripted show.

We often had skilled musicians who played for pay on other nights show up just for fun, and as a side benefit, to entice the audience to their paid gigs. We often had skilled musicians try out new material, or just enjoy jamming with others that they would normally not get a chance to jam with.

Never had any ill will about taking advantage of musicians, as they loved the vibe of the open stage as much as the audience did. It wasn't about abusing musicians to get free entertainment, it was simply an alternative to the other nights of paid entertainment.

[AuntieDiluvian]

Originally Posted by terrypl

Never had any ill will about taking advantage of musicians, as they loved the vibe of the open stage as much as the audience did. It wasn't about abusing musicians to get free entertainment, it was simply an alternative to the other nights of paid entertainment.

If it's one night of the week, mixed in with paid performances, I can't imagine how anyone would see it as an issue - I've seen larger clubs use those as audition nights and practice for the tech guys, and it makes good sense

[frankmcr]

Originally Posted by terrypl

Long thread, not sure if anyone will get this far, but here's my perspective as a former bar owner who ran a successful, popular open stage for 10 years:

We had live entertainment 5 to 7 nights a week, all paid except one night of open stage, which was as popular among both musicians and audience as the the other nights. Why? Because it allowed skilled musicians to play without any pressure or expectations, it allowed novices to see what they could do, it allowed audiences to enjoy an unpredictable, energetic, unscripted show.

We often had skilled musicians who played for pay on other nights show up just for fun, and as a side benefit, to entice the audience to their paid gigs. We often had skilled musicians try out new material, or just enjoy jamming with others that they would normally not get a chance to jam with.

Never had any ill will about taking advantage of musicians, as they loved the vibe of the open stage as much as the audience did. It wasn't about abusing musicians to get free entertainment, it was simply an alternative to the other nights of paid entertainment.

Originally Posted by AuntieDiluvian

If it's one night of the week, mixed in with paid performances, I can't imagine how anyone would see it as an issue - I've seen larger clubs use those as audition nights and practice for the tech guys, and it makes good sense

Likewise.

Still waiting for reports on 7-nights-a-week open mikes. C'mon bar owners, how's that working out for ya?

Don't all answer at once!

[GuestIN]

This is what passes for problems these days, huh?

Good to know.