Steemit Open Mic is growing and bringing musicians together and as more people join they have a few questions about the rules of entering the contest. There is a method to the madness or so the saying goes. 

I thought I would make a post that explains the rules in more detail, why we have them in the first place, and how it helps the Steemit community.

<center>[![why steemit open mic has rules.png](https://s13.postimg.org/4nv8cwzev/why_steemit_open_mic_has_rules.png)](https://postimg.org/image/z5b34gmrn/)</center>

>If you have never heard of Steemit Open Mic you can find out more about it by [following me](https://steemit.com/@luzcypher) and some of the [musicians that have joined](https://steemit.com/openmic/@luzcypher/steemit-open-mic-week-41-winners-see-who-won-open-mic-and-join-us-this-week).

**Now on to the updated rules to joining Steemit Open Mic.** 

## <center>Steemit Open Mic Rules</center> ##

- The cutoff date for entries is Friday. The contest begins on Sunday and ends on Friday.
- Only 1 entry per person per week.
- "Steemit Open Mic Week 42" (or the current week number) must the beginning of the post title.
- Say the words** "Steemit Open Mic Week 42"** at the beginning of your video.
- Live performances only specifically made for this contest.
- openmic must be the first tag.
- Add a link to your post in the comments of the contest post.
- You must upvote this post.
- If your song is an original song then add the word "Original" somewhere in your title

**Entries must follow these rules to be eligible for earning prizes**. Let's go through them one by one and why we require you to follow these rules.

http://i.imgur.com/ecWyGYy.png

- **The cutoff date for entries is Friday. The contest begins on Sunday and ends on Friday.** 

The number of entries is increasing and it takes time to listen to each one. Having the deadline be on Friday gives the judges time to listen to the entries, talk among themselves and reach a consensus on who wins. 

It also gives us time to make a post with all the entries each week and post it on Saturday so people have one more chance to vote for their favorite performances. 

When the cut off day was Sunday, the same day as the next week's contest, it was a whole day's work to respond and upvote each one. Spreading the workload over a few days not only gives us more time to listen and vote on each entry, but the votes we give out will be worth more because we had time to restore our voting power.

http://i.imgur.com/ecWyGYy.png

- **Only 1 entry per person per week.**

As the popularity of Steemit Open Mic increased, the rewards also increased to some of the people who entered. This lead some users to post multiple entries per day in hopes of getting more rewards. 

Realistically it doesn't work that way and those multiple posts by the same users loses votes the more they post. By spreading it out to one post for the contest a week, the readers and followers of the contest get a better experience because there are many different performances by many different artists.

Less is more when it comes to music and limiting the entries to one per week creates a sense of expectation for the following week. People who like your music will look forward to your next post.

For an interesting story on how less is more when it comes to live music read [How I Booked 300 Shows Per Year For My Rock Band - Growing Your Music Into A Business](https://steemit.com/music/@luzcypher/how-i-booked-300-shows-per-year-for-my-rock-band-growing-your-music-into-a-business).

There's a saying in the music business that says, "Always leave them wanting more" so keeping it to one entry a week will help you in the long run. *Still don't believe it?^ Then read the story.

http://i.imgur.com/ecWyGYy.png

- **"Steemit Open Mic Week 42" (or the current week number) must the beginning of the post title.**

First off, when we scroll the pages of entries each week it is easy to spot a post that says *"Steemit Open Mic Week 42"* in the beginning of the title. So we will not miss your post by accident.

If your title is, "A Song I Wrote For My Best Friend - entry for open mic" 

or 

"Improv musical jam with friends" 

it is possible we will miss the entry altogether and you will lose out on votes or possibly earning prizes.

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<img src=https://s10.postimg.org/463ftanmx/seo-rank-boost.png>

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The other very important reason is so that both Steemit and Steemit Open Mic will get picked up in the search engines over and over again from different blog posts.

That is important because Steemit Open Mic will have more search results as the contest grows. This will make the contest rank higher in the search engines when people type 'Open Mic" or "Steemit Open Mic" into a search engine.

*Why would they type "Steemit Open Mic" into a search engine?* That brings us to the next rule.

http://i.imgur.com/ecWyGYy.png

- **Say the words "Steemit Open Mic Week 42" at the beginning of your video.**

Over time people will begin seeing more and more videos with people saying, "This is for Steemit Open Mic Week blah, blah, blah, right at the beginning of the video. 

Some will want to know what that is and will search for it on Google and find all these posts, your posts, of Steemit Open Mic entries and some will join when they see what is happening here.

Saying the words also helps to verify that this is really a video you performed for the contest and not some video you plagiarized from someone else. That's why the words must be said. 

Adding an edit to a prerecorded video just to add the words is not good enough. It must be said by the person performing the song just prior to performing it. Recording the words and editing it to the beginning of a video still does not prove it was really you.

Also, by saying the words YouTube transcribes every word you say on a video helping your videos rank on Google for those keywords.

See for yourself. Go Google "Steemit Open Mic" and see what the search results are. 

http://i.imgur.com/ecWyGYy.png

- **Live performances only specifically made for this contest.**

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<img src=https://s12.postimg.org/i9ukcxngt/verified_checkmark_greem.jpg>

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Steemit Open Mic is a live music contest that a performer is performing specifically for the contest. It is the only way we can verify it is really your performance. There have been many instances where people have entered the contest [posing as someone they are not](https://steemit.com/openmic/@lina08/open-mic-week-41-like-im-gonna-lose-you-cover).

It happens all the time and because we are giving prizes there will always be dishonest people trying to game the system. For this reason, it is a live contest, verified live. If you wish to remain anonymous where a mask or keep your face out of the frame.

http://i.imgur.com/ecWyGYy.png

- **openmic must be the first tag.**

This makes it easier to find your post and to find the trending posts for openmic. If you make it harder for us to find you then you're only hurting your chances of getting your music heard and earning rewards.

This also allows us to track the total earning from the open mic entries in addition to the prizes.

http://i.imgur.com/ecWyGYy.png

- **Add a link to your post in the comments of the contest post.**

Adding a link to your post in the comments of the Steemit Open Mic contest page send us a notification that you entered the contest. Now we can click the link, upvote your post and comment on it. Forgetting to do this may make us not even know you have entered.

http://i.imgur.com/ecWyGYy.png

- **You must upvote this post.**

If you are going to enjoy the support of a contest and the benefits of having every entry you make upvoted by me in addition to possibly earning rewards, the least you can do it show your support by upvoting the contest pages.

Eventually, it would be nice if the payouts were covered by the upvotes we receive. Until then @pfunk and I are paying out of our own pockets or earnings we make from other posts not related to the contest.

I believe it is important to bring musicians together on Steemit and am willing to pay to see it happen but it would be nice if we got at least as many upvotes as we have people entering.

It takes a lot to keep this contest running and we can use all the support we can get. Your upvote goes a long way and is always returned on your post.

We vote on every post that has even been entered in the Steemit Open Mic contest on your post. 

I do not vote on the links of your post that are added to the contest page comments because I don't want to take rewards from those pages. That is for the people who voted for the different musicians. But on your personal post you make for entering the contest we will always vote for you.

There is no favoritism this way from the judges and we can still show support to everyone.

http://i.imgur.com/ecWyGYy.png

- **If your song is an original song then add the word "Original" somewhere in your title**

We are currently paying a bonus to all songs posted that are original songs.  By adding the word "original" in your title we can find it easier and pay you the bonus. We split the weekly bonus equally between everyone who posted an original song.

Here is an example of a correctly titled post with an original song entry. Notice that the words "Steemit Open Mic Week 42" come first followed by the title of the song and the word "Original" included in the title. This post is very easy to find and reward. We are working on automating the sorting process and if you do not title it corretly you could miss out on rewards.

<center>[![steemit open mic week 42 post example.png](https://s24.postimg.org/csafib2x1/steemit_open_mic_week_42_post_example.png)](https://postimg.org/image/z488bp20x/)</center>  

**A word about links**

Each time you add the link to your post in the comments of the contest page you are affecting the page rank of the contest page in a negative way as far as Google is concerned. It is necessary to do so to inform us that you have entered the contest.

But this creates what is a called an outgoing link that weakens the page the outgoing link originates from while strengthening the page it links to, ie., your post.

We can counter that by adding a link to the contest page somewhere in your post.

For example, a paragraph in your post that talks about Steemit Open Mic and make those words link to the contest coming from multiple posts from each contestant each week would soon have all of our pages ranking for the search terms Steemit Open Mic.

Copy and paste the code below to add a link to the contest page but be sure to replace ADD LINK HERE with a link to that week's contest.

`[Steemit Open Mic](ADD LINK HERE)`


A simple paragraph like:

Click to read more about joining [Steemit Open Mic](https://steemit.com/openmic/@luzcypher/steemit-open-mic-42-record-your-performance-on-your-phone-enter-and-win-steem-sponsored-by-pfunk-and-luzcypher)

I hope this helps people understand the rules better and why we do it the way we do. 

There are some exciting new developments coming soon for the Steemit Open Mic contest designed to grow it even more so stay tuned for new updates. Here is a [sneak peak](http://www.steemreports.com/steemit-chart/openmic/) brought to you by @andybets

The closer you can follow these simple rules the better we can find and reward your posts so you are really helping yourself by following these rules.

Thank you SO much for your continued support and great music. Let's make Steemit Open Mic a growing part of Steemit history.

http://i.imgur.com/ecWyGYy.png

<center>[![luzcypher-emoji-verified-2.png](https://s16.postimg.org/fg72y0snp/luzcypher_emoji_verified_2.png)](https://steemit.com/@luzcypher)</center>

<center>Learn more about [Basic Universal Income here](http://steem.link/GRTCoin)</center>