All the greatness in the world is for nothing if nobody knows about it.
Over the past few weeks we’ve gone into detail on how to set up an open mic system for small concerts. If you’ve missed any of them make sure you start at the beginning.
- The Open Mic Guide Part I – Finding the Right Location
- The Open Mic Guide Part II – What Kind of P.A. Do You Need?
- The Open Mic Guide Part III – Making the Most of your Mixer
- The Open Mic Guide Part IV – Microphones
- The Open Mic Guide Part V – Setting Everything Up
Now that you’ve got your open mic set up and ready, it’s time to reel in the musicians. These are the methods I think work because they attracted me, a musician, to their location.
I’ve played a few open mics and these venues were able to reach me in the following ways:
Craigslist
Put up a Craigslist ad every time you are setting up an open mic. If it becomes a weekly thing then you can start putting up pictures and short stories of the past shows to entice people to come out.
Craigslist has a lot of weirdos so maybe it’s not the best idea if you are hosting it at a house or a center reserved for a certain demographic. But if you are hosting an open mic at a café then this is the way to go.
This only works if you can post on the venues’ Facebook page. You can also post it on yours, but chances are the cafe’s Facebook page will reach a broader audience. Facebook allows more interaction and community than Craigslist. You could even have people sign up on your post so that you can gauge how many people are likely to come.
Newspapers and Weeklies
Weekly magazines that are distributed freely around your city or town usually have some sort of music listing. See if you can’t put your venue under the Open Mic category. I’ve found plenty of open mics for different nights scouring the Tucson Weekly. Use it to your advantage.
Word of Mouth
Obviously, you can’t actively do much to promote word-of-mouth marketing, but if you have a few successful nights it’s bound to happen. You can also ask the musicians themselves where they heard about it, and if they are willing to spread the word around. Start small, connect with upcoming musicians and let it escalate from there.
Conclusion
Those are just some of the free ways you can get exposure for your open mic nights, hopefully attracting an audience of listeners and musicians along the way.
This post concludes the six-week series of how to set up an open mic night. We’ve gone from the basics of finding your location, setting up the equipment to finally marketing it to the community.
I hope you enjoyed the series. Please let me know about any questions or comments you have in the comments below.
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