How Open Mic works
Founders introduce a product in their own voice. This page describes exactly how an entry is added, reviewed, ranked and played.
- Add your voice. Give your product name, its website, a category and your name as founder. Then record up to 60 seconds in your browser, or upload an audio file (webm, ogg, mp3, m4a or wav, up to 4.0 MB and about 60 seconds long).
- It is reviewed. A new entry is saved as pending and is not public. The site team approves it before it appears in the lineup. The site team can also reject, hide, edit or delete an entry later.
- It is ranked. See the order below.
- People listen. Anyone can find a voice on the home page or the full lineup, then press play on a row or open the entry's own page.
How the lineup is ordered
- Only approved entries are listed.
- Sponsored entries come first, the highest amount at the top. If two amounts are equal, the earlier entry ranks higher.
- Free entries follow, in the order the site team has chosen: oldest first, newest first or most plays first. The home page always shows the order currently in use.
- Ranks are numbered 1, 2, 3... in that final order. Filtering by category or searching does not change an entry's rank.
Finding a voice
- The home page shows the first 10 entries of the lineup, with a “See all” link to the full lineup.
- The full lineup lists every approved entry, 20 to a page, in the order described above.
- Search matches the product name, the founder, the category and the website. Words are combined: every word you type has to match something about the entry. Pick a category as well to narrow it further, and use Show all to clear both.
- Hidden, pending and rejected entries never appear in the lineup or in search results.
Listening and play counts
- Only one clip plays at a time. Starting another pauses the first.
- A play is counted once per entry per page visit, and only once the clip has really started and moved forward. If a clip can't be loaded or played, the player says so and nothing is counted.
- To keep the numbers honest, each visitor can add up to 30 counted plays an hour. Playing still works after that; it just isn't counted.
Sponsored placement
Every entry is free (Free) unless the person chooses to sponsor it. A sponsored placement is a whole-dollar amount from $1 to $10,000, chosen with the amount control on the home page before adding your voice.
- Sponsored placement is offered only when the site team has switched it on. While it is off, the home page says “Paid placement is not available yet” and every new entry is free.
- When it is on, you add your voice first and are then sent to the payment provider's hosted checkout (Dodo Payments). Card details are entered on their page, not on Open Mic.
- Your entry becomes sponsored only after the payment provider's confirmation reaches Open Mic. The redirect back to this site does not count as payment. A sponsored entry still has to be approved before it is listed.
- When paid placement runs in test mode, no real money is charged.
Read the rules for what the form accepts and the FAQ for common questions.