Hi, I'm Martin and I wrote the first bit of code for the Open Mic Finder website way back in January 2010. Since then I have spent tens of thousands of hours refining the site. I am also the only site moderator. I perform daily admin to review submitted content to ensure it meets a certain standard and have done for over 15 years.

My previous attempts at monetisation...

Around 2016 to try and make the site profitable I sought sponsorship. Sadly, the truth is that even though this website is the top performer on Google, capturing the majority of search traffic for terms relating to Open Mics, the total volume of visitors is still too small for any brand to want to engage with. One major brewery I spoke with told me they wouldn't even consider advertising on any website with fewer than 200,000 unique visitors per month... at the time Open Mic Finder was getting just a tenth of that!

There used to be Google Ads on this site, displayed in the header and sidebar. These only ever generated £12 per month income on average which is just about enough to cover what I pay for hosting. The adverts added a lot of visual noise to the pages and their scripts dropped a load of tracking cookies on my users browsers and toward the end Google required me to jump through an increasing number of hoops to please their terms and conditions.

In addition to the ads I also tried affiliate marketing with Udemy. I embedded in the pages links to online courses for skills like acoustic guitar, singing and songwriting. During those 5 years I never received a single penny from Udemy, because the commission did not reach their minimum payout amount.

Aside from being more hassle than they were worth, the greatest damage the adverts seemed to be doing was creating a false perception amongst users that I was making thousands from the site. Ultimately, I chose to remove them in 2023.

Current situation...

So here I am, running a website that cannot be monetised, yet I haven't the heart to shut it down because it provides a central service to a community of performers and when it's gone, nothing will replace it.

If you would like to donate a few quid to thank me for my work, it would mean so much to me. Any amount is appreciated, the price of a pint in your local pub is my usual suggestion.

Tap the Donate button below to visit my PayPal donation page.

Donation history

Thank you to these amazing people who hit the button and supported my work

8 August 2023 - Marco donated £25

12 January 2024 - Jackie donated £10

8 March 2024 - Russ donated £5

28 February 2025 - Edward donated £10

20 March 2025 - Brin donated £10

16 July 2025 - Michael donated £10

24 July 2025 - M.D. Murgociu donated £10

4 August 2025 - M.D. Murgociu donated £10

29 October 2025 - M.D. Murgociu donated £10