I'm entering an open mic uk thing tonight. I have read all the blogs I have time for, and am now aware of some of the issues. I agree it is moneymaking. I'm not sure I agree either, so will use this as a showcase tonight and if anyone likes what they hear, then that's OK - I won't be doing the next level as I do not have enough friends to sell tickets on to. That makes me realise how unfair it is to the acts who are up here on their own - they have to sell at least 15 tickets at £8 each - £120!!! Surely a standard showcasing event doesn't cost that much. This is a business for someone and they are entitled to do it if people are willing to go along with it and gamble (as that is what it is once your money starts going into anything with no guarantees). It seems to be an effective operation, some people feel they have had value for money, and may have made loads of contacts on the way through that they would have otherwise not have done, so that is good for them. For "billy-no-mates" like me it will be an expensive way of (maybe) getting to the "top" (whatever that is....).
There have got to be cheaper ways of doing it - surely if you have talent you don't need to pay your way to the top, above and beyond your own personal business investments. I sing on the circuit and have had regular work, which is probably what the winners of this will end up with anyway. Record conracts "worth" a ceratin amount sound good, but what is involved in that prize. I cut a decent CD for £100 at the studio that has furnished the likes of Richard Hawley, Tony Christie and Jarvis Cocker (they will have obviously paid for a better deal than me :-))
I'd love to know why MR associates itself with the unscrupulous Live and Unsigned? These people are a cancer to the music industry, operating nothing more than a pyramid scheme taking advantage of the naive.
There's a lot of negative press around these guys:
Open Mic and L&U
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