Why Create A Dedicated Steemit Open Mic Website?
Having a dedicated site for the Open Mic contest would provide many benefits to the musicians entering, the audience listening, and the Steemit platform as a whole.
If you have never heard of Open Mic on Steemit check out Steemit Open Mic Week 61 Winners - See Who Won Open Mic And Join Us This Week --- by @luzcypher
My wish list would include:
Imagine a responsive website where all of the entries to Open Mic would be in one place.
A musician posting an entry could do so on their Steemit blog or from the Open Mic site and it would cross-post to both sites regardless where they posted from, much like Busy.org does.
The audience could then comment, vote, or resteem right from the site. We could have each week's entries cataloged and a category for all the winning entries.
Users of the site could create a profile and a list of all their entries and users could chat with each other on the site. They would add links to their other music catalogs on SoundCloud, or DTube, or DAudio, and to their Steemit blog.
We could show the trending Open Mic entries, the number of votes, views, and shares, maybe even their total rewards earned from Open Mic posts.
We could add links to the radio show dedicated to Open Mic music where they play songs from each week's entries and feature interviews with the musicians.
A counter totaling all of the rewards Open Mic has paid out to date, and counting. 25,620 Steem in prizes and over 100,000 SBD in post rewards,
Having all of this information in one place would be really cool and give us more benefits.
Taking it to the streets
Now imagine having this functioning site where people can see all of these musicians playing and singing songs and seeing the rewards they are earning.
A site like that could be marketed to musicians to entice them to join Steemit and start playing music on it. It's like busking only better.
It would cut through the haze some musicians feel when they see Open Mic but get confused by all the other things on Steemit. A Steemian musician is a rare breed who can juggle the technical art of blogging and play music too.
Most musicians I know who are not on Steemit get confused when I show them Open Mic until I show them the Open Mic trending page. That they understand.
A site just featuring Open Mic entries would be almost a no-brainer for most of them. We would have an illustrated tutorial to show them how to create an account on Steemit but they would mostly interact with the Open Mic site.
There are other online busking sites like Busk but the people tipping are paying real money out of their pocket. Steemit is allocating rewards from a generated reward pool.
Once a dedicated site was working smoothly we could do a marketing campaign to reach more talent and a wider audience.
We currently have 90-100 entries a week and with an easier way for musicians to onboard into this thriving community we could scale it up and get more talent and their followers on the platform.
The difference between a hobbyist musician and a pro musician
Pro musicians want to get paid. Yes, they are still having fun playing music but they like to get paid. Pro musicians are really good and don't usually have to practice unless they are in an original band.
Getting rewarded for playing music, even if it is just $20, 50, or 100 is good money for playing a song and many of the people entering Open Mic are making that each week.
Pro musicians often have a following of their own and if they had an account on the Open Mic website many of their followers would follow them to Steemit. All of this is good for the platform.
An endorsement from one well-known musician using the site would be newsworthy and could get some good press for Open Mic and Steemit. More musicians playing creates a better user experience to those visiting the site and each time a person enters it is promoting Steemit all over the internet.
Plus, it would be so cool to have an app you could upload your video to right after recording it on your phone that would cross-post to your Steemit blog. Cool enough to show to your musician friends. For a musician, it's almost like a paid rehearsal.
I Need Professional Help
With the website that is.
I've built hundreds of WordPress sites but have no idea how to connect that up to the Steem blockchain or if it even could be done on WordPress.
To a professional web developer, WordPress is a bad word, but it's the only kind of site I know how to build.
I see a lot of sites like Busy.org, that are linked to the Steemit blockchain so I know it can be done.
If you are a developer or know someone who is up for the task please contact me to talk more about this.
I just started a server on Discord where you can reach me. Please only enter there if you are a developer and would like to work on this project.
If you're not a developer and have ideas for the site please add your comments below. Thanks
Here are the top players for 61 weeks and growing.
The Best Of Steemit Open Mic Week 1 Through 61 - Happy Holidays Everyone --- by @luzcypher
Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent.
Victor Hugo
or as @justhope puts it
