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Performance
Opportunities Please bear in mind - most of us at the Muse are performing musicians, so we are coming at this from both sides! We have a reputation for being extremely fair in compensating artists. With your help, we'll do our best to make sure that you get a great performance opportunity. We strongly encourage you to network with local & established acts to schedule a show opening for them. Open Mic: The Find Your Muse Open Mic, hosted by Eric-Scott Guthrie, takes place every Monday night. "Every Monday night, come on down to The Evening Muse for a chance to play your music, make friends, meet people, influence places, and forget about things! Mondays got you down? We got the cure, and it might just be the blues! Sign ups start at 7:00, the party (officially) starts at 8:00. Get there early, it's likely to be busy... we're averaging about 20 performers and 60 spectators each night, and it's growing every week! - We encourage ORIGINAL songs, however if you want to play a cover it's... (sigh)... it's ok. But we hope you'll use this evening to try out your own songs, or write your own songs if you haven't already. Need a primer on songwriting and open mics? Check out The Tenacious D episode 'The Search for Inspirado'. Unless you're under 18. In which case we don't condone you watching that DVD (cough)." Performers play for exposure, merch sales and networking opportunities. Tosco House Party: Hosted by John Tosco of Tosco Music Party fame, the House Party is a fun open mic held on the first Wednesday of each month. Open mic sign-up begins at 6:30 PM, with the perfomances beginning at 8 PM or so. Usually a well-attended event, performers play for exposure and merch sales. It's also an opportunity for John to consider acts for the "Big Party" that takes place downtown three times a year. Due to the popularity of this event, each performer plays only one song until everyone who has signed up has had a chance to play. Featured Artist: This provides an opportunity for an artist from out-of-town to play a bit longer than the typical open mic spot. Artists are subject to a full press kit review prior to booking. For the Tosco House Party, performers play three songs or 15 minutes in their turn in the round - click here for more info on a THP feature spot. For the Monday night open mic, a 30 minute set is standard - click here for info on booking Monday night. Performers play for exposure, tips and merch sales. Our regular music nights are Wednesday - Saturday plus the Monday night open mic. We only do shows on Sunday and Tuesday for national acts or acts with a clearly established draw in Charlotte. Again, to get a date scheduled more quickly, we strongly encourage you to network with established acts to schedule a show opening for them. Gig-exchanges are highly-recommended. If you can identify a like-minded artist or band achieving a level of success in their hometown comparable to your own, contact them and arrange to do shows together. Open for them in their hometown, and have them open for you in your hometown. If you have already contacted a Charlotte band about a show, that makes it a lot easier for us to get you a date at the Muse. Gallery Crawl: This is one of our only "built-in crowd" nights. People come from near and far for a combination "Art Walk" and "Pub Crawl" in the North Davidson Street Arts District (NoDa). Gallery Crawl is held on the First Friday of each month. Performers play for tips, exposure and merch sales. Bands need to be able to load-in quickly to optimize performance time (55 minutes per act including set-up and load-out). Emerging Artist Series: Emerging performers share the bill and each artist may request tips from the audience. Two to three artists are booked for each event. The performance consists of 2 - 3 rounds of approximately 20 minutes per artist. Admission is free for this event in order to bring out as many potential fans as possible. Performers play for tips and merch sales. While we may try to include a local act on this bill, it is not always possible so your promotion efforts are key to your success. Troubadour Series: Touring songwriters share the bill and the door proceeds. Two to three artists are booked for each event. The performance consists of 2 - 3 rounds of 20 minutes per artist. Admission is usually $5 for this event and each act will receive a % of money collected at the door, based on door poll. Performers play for a percentage of the door and merch sales. While we always try to include an established act on this bill, it is not always possible so your promotion efforts are key to your success. Openers/Closers: A support act is expected to help bring in new listeners, as well as benefit from the headliner's existing audience. Performers play for a percentage of the door, exposure and merch sales. The opening or closing act is paid based on how much promotion and attendees they have provided for the event. Headline Acts: PLEASE don't try to go here until you are genuinely ready! Take advantage of one of our many exposure opportunities! Muse headliners are acts that have established a good following locally and possibly regionally. We also like them personally - they are nice people with realistic expectations, who take their promotion responsibilities seriously (or have a great management team to handle it). Oftentimes they draw a crowd that has demonstrated a real affinity for drinkin.' (It's fine if they drink water, coffee, soda - but we can't keep the doors open if they don't drink something!) Compensation for headliners varies minutely due to grandfather-clause, contract riders and special needs, but the basic deal is 75% of the door. The remaining 25% is spread VERY thinly among the support act, the door-person, compensating the sound engineer, and a variety of Muse promotion expenses. So, performers play for a percentage of the door, exposure and merch sales. Weeknights vs. Weekends: We understand that everyone wants a weekend night to play. You must surely understand that it is not possible to please everyone? So we ask that you help us build our reputation as a place there is good music EVERY night by your willingness to perform on weeknights when invited to do so. As our roster of wonderful artists grows, we are moving steadily toward booking only our best-draw acts on weekends, so weekend opportunities will be few and far between. They will go to the artists who have an established fan base and otherwise go above and beyond meeting the expectations for a headliner described above. |