How to Create the Perfect Open Mic Night
Great Start for Budding Promoters Breaking into the Music Business
Nov 4, 2009
Whether focused on one kind of music, acoustic or fully electric, an open mic night is an easy, fun and worthwhile project for people looking to get into music promotion. It can be a forgivng environment for a beginner as lessons learnt can be applied the following week. When done well with a good, diverse and ever changing line up, it can be an essential night out for the discerning music fan.
The Open Mic Circuit
The most obvious first step for a neophyte promoter would be to visit other open mic nights. Not only does the newbie get an immediate idea of the structure of a night, but a bit of decent networking will also procure a ton of information on venues, themes, cheapest available photocopier, willing performers and the general ups and downs. A successful compère will need a surfeit of confidence so schmoozing should be a doddle.
Choose Your Venue Well
Open mic nights are better suited for mid week which can make finding a venue a bit easier. They tend to be laid back so a busy location like a pub is less suitable. Cafes, community centres or art centres are ideal. The space needs to be a decent size but not too big, the location should be accessible and the décor conducive to the ambience aimed for.
Publicising an Event
Open mic nights tend to work on a circuit basis with musicians doing the rounds. This makes other nights the perfect place to get a handle on matters, recruit performers and publicise a new night. Promoters shouldn't try and promote at an event which is going to clash but other organisers will almost always be sympathetic to a new venture and be happy for leaflets to be distributed.
Word of mouth is the best publicity so the emphasis should be on patience and a focus on building the actual event rather then relying on leafleting and posters. The return on time and energy will be less then people telling their friends what a great time they had. Of course the internet can be a useful promotion tool.
Music, Songs, Poetry and Prose
The key decision is what kind of focus the night should have. It can be completely open which would mean music, singing, poetry, prose or it could focus on acoustic folk or any other musical genre or simply a non-musical approach. In the end the open aspect is that people should able to drop in on the night and get to play/sing/declaim within whatever criteria has been set.
Once the approach has been decided thought needs to go into dragging people down to play rather then relying on people to turn up, at least initially . Also, the good compère is one prepared to perform themselves to fill in any holes that might appear because of stage fright or just lack of willing artistes.
Again other nights are a good place for recruitment as some more serious performers will do a circuit. Also networking and publicising on the gig circuit helps because apart from being an obvious target audience some bands like to do some live rehearsal in a relaxed environment.
Controlling the Tempo
A list of those wanting to perform should be kept. Judgement is needed on how many songs people can play. Its worth noting that musicians are notorious for leaving after playing so its best not to rely on getting people back up if the number of performers are running short. Musicians can also be an egotistical bunch and a compère needs the strength of character and diplomacy to stop people hogging the limelight.
All in all a good solid hour with performers getting two songs each is a pretty decent minimum and once the event goes past this it can be called a success.
Be Part of the Circuit
The key to success is not to worry about a couple of failures, or an initial lack of an audience. Once the night is established, and weekly is best for doing that, word soon gets round.
The organiser will learn a lot about the skills involved in organising, publicising, controlling the talent and the tendency of audiences to pose rather then listen to the music. But this can all be done with a little energy and very little financial outlay. There are no real barriers to starting and will provide genuine and useful experience for those people wishing to pursue a career in the music business.
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