If you are a performing artist, you have to start somewhere, this is a universal fact. Many of the greatest artists have gotten their start by doing local Open Mics in their cities. For those not familiar with Open Mics, they are pretty much an open forum for artists to perform. Most times they are free for the artist to attend, while the audience gets charged a small fee. It’s a good place for a new artist to get introduced and get used to performing in front of people. However, as with all things there is a good, bad, and an ugly side to Open Mics.
Many artists who make money off of their art will tell you that the meat and potatoes of their performances comes from live performances. A good live performance needs several things to be classified “good.” The artist needs to be confident, comfortable, have good stage presence, have good crowd interaction, among several other things. Open Mics make for great training fields for artists to cut their teeth on. Open Mic opportunities can often lead to paid performances as there is almost always someone in the crowd looking for talent for an event of their own. Open Mics are also a great place to connect with other artists and may lead to collaboration opportunities. I encourage any new artist to attend the Open Mics in their city to get experience and their name out there.
Now with anything that can be used for good there is an opportunity for it to be used for bad as well. Open Mics are certainly no exception. Whenever you get people who think and could possibly actually be talented, there comes a chance for ego. There are those who act like divas at their local Open Mic but have never traveled outside the city with their art. There are some artists who are regulars at their Open Mics who start to expect certain favors or special treatment. It’s always amusing when this happens and even more humorous when venues or hosts actually give in to these whims. Also because Open Mics are open to the public, there is no real buffer in terms of talent. The talent can go from extremes of “why aren’t they signed” to “somebody kill me now this can’t be real life.” After attending so many Open Mics with terrible talent, you tend to not even get excited when folks call themselves “artists.”
Open Mics can be good and bad but there is also a chance that things can get ugly. Things can always get ugly whenever money is involved. After you’ve been attending Open Mics and getting a name in your local scene, your eyes begin to open up and questions start to emerge. You start to notice that the venue is making money if at a restaurant or a bar, and you may also notice that the host may be getting a little bit of money from charging the audience. Then the question comes “well why aren’t I getting paid?” Because the reality is if the artist didn’t attend, then no one would show up. There comes a time when you realize all the people who you’ve invited and have actually showed up, are actually putting money into someone else’s pockets. I’ve talked to artists who no longer frequent Open Mics and a few said it’s because they realized they were building someone else’s empire. When you realize that Open Mics can be used to bring artists out who are thirsty and eager for a platform to perform on, you realize that some Open Mics could actually be pimping new artists (because the established artists stopped performing for free and are starting to do mostly paid gigs) and fattening their own pockets.
Open Mics can be wonderful, bad, and things can get ugly. I suggest that you use them in a way that bests suits you for whatever phase of your artistic journey you find yourself in. If you’ve established a name, connections, and are getting paid, then I suggest you make yourself scarce on the Open Mic scene. It’s not that you are better than that, it’s that you have to count the cost on whether it’s worth it or not to perform for free. For me, if I go to an Open Mc it will be because I feel like it, I was invited (though sometimes it got to where I wanted to watch and would end up getting called on stage to perform), or I want to support someone. If you are an up and coming artist, I’m going to tell you to go to as many Open Mics as you can until you get connections, and begin to get paid for your art. I wish all you artists the best as you venture off into your artistic endeavors.
