Well as we launch into a New Year we have smashed our standing records for the third consecutive week, three weeks ago our record was 153 entries we were all amazed by the sudden influx of entrants - moral was high and we were stoked to see you all joining us.

Then the following week we had another huge increase and we smashed out another all time record high number of entrants with 201 people joining us, I took a moment did some deep breathing then jumped back in to check them all out - it was a pretty crazy jump in just a week and we weren't positive about how this would continue from here.

Well this week we found out, we have smashed out another huge number of entries there were a total of 365! That's a whopping 1 entry per day for an entire year - all in one week of submissions.

Now the unfortunate part of this is that, it turns out a huge number of people have started entering for less than honourable reasons - they want to make easy money with little to no effort, I will expand upon this issue further in another post soon.

But I wanted to let anyone who thinks they can half ass their way through Open Mic, to make a quick buck will be sorely mistaken - we see you, we see what you are doing and we are making our arrangements to ensure this sort of behaviour will never receive a single reward from us or @openmic.

Sorry to start this weeks top 5 with a mix of the good and the bad, but hey guys it is what it is and these are serious issues that affect all of our dedicated hard working entrants - and I wanted anyone just viewing this weeks rounds of entries to know that this is not what Open Mic is about, we are working on a solution and changes are coming soon!

Now this is directly for all of our entrants reading this, if your thinking along the lines of "Oh no I hope they don't mean me" trust me when I say this is not intended for you - if when reading this your immediate thought is "oh no now I won't get the free votes worth all that money" this was your fault and you are the creators of your own demise in this contest.

Our long term entrants are amazing, were family, we have been together through the longest time and shared parts of ourselves openly with each other for the love of the music - if you stress over your entries, do countless takes and try your very best each week, we love you and will continue to support you as we always have.

Without further negativity on what should be a happy post, here is this weeks top five selection.

This week's top 5:

1st Place - @kayclarity - Forever

You have such an insanely beautiful voice and you know how to use it to amazin effect throughout your music, I love the combination of different emotions this song produces as I listen to it - there's a hauntingly beautiful nature to the overall feel of the song.

This week your voice was a shining beacon from behind the clouds, a much desired relief from the monotony of life that sometimes takes hold - drawing you in to take you away on an unfamiliar journey.

Your composition is just perfect, the playing is one with the tune and together they paint an amazing audible tapestry of colour, depth and structure - I love that your songs are stand alone complete entities, with their own story behind them that made them what they are today.

Your vocal range and control are always precise, your songs are brilliantly structured to focus on your many strengths - as the best songwriters often do, tailoring the song to suit them personally rather than forcing it in an unnatural direction.

I can't help but feel sad or even sorrowful at hearing this, longing for the days long gone by when life was simpler - the child pure in its innocence and accepting of the simple beauty of things.

This is such a poetic masterpiece, I am loving the deeper themed lyrics - you definitely captured the multiple elements you were going for, as I also feel the jaded influence of age affect the tone of the song as well.

Such a complexly beautiful and tragic song, filled with intense and relatable emotions - you have captured the spirit of depth and despair of a life lived with regrets and the bittersweet nature of hindsight.

An absolute favourite section for me would have to be this...

Able-bodied man
Does your heart stand stoic,
Beating just to breathe?

You were young once
Just life-drunk sober
Always saw honey in the bees

This is just so amazingly structured and coveys such a detailed picture, the line "Beating just to breath?" was insane and beautiful and tragic all in one - and a stunning reflection of the following section "Always say honey in the bees", just a brilliant use of poetic juxtaposition.

There is an amazing level of quality to your music, there's a purity to its nature and intent in the world - and it is always delivered in such a flawless manner that melts the soul.

You have an amazing gift not only with your insane vocal ability, but in your songwriting and how you combine all of your talents to converge to create such masterpieces as the song above.

I could listen to this song on repeat for a week, it is everything you want in a song and more - so thank you for making such an amazing entry for us all to enjoy, we truly appreciate it and look forward to more!

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2nd Place - @kendramoriah - Every Song is About You

Well I just absolutely loved everything about that entry, you have a stunning voice used to beautiful effect throughout this song - when I realised you wrote this as well, my instant thoughts were "well we have another serious contender".

What isn't to like about your entry, there is an active energy throughout the song - you convey a story, you play brilliant music that couples with the lyrics effortlessly and you sing like your living it.

I love hearing new music and gaining new musical influencers and I have to say this is going straight to my regular playlist of brilliant Open Mic entries, we are really starting to gain some serious players and you are a master of the game.

I love the structure of the song, it's evolution as it continues - my absolute highlight is the build to your hauntingly beautiful "It's about you", wow that note made me swoon in an instant.

The way you have chosen to structure your melody is perfection, soft and gentle with deeper tones - then the pace picks up and the energy builds and ultimately climaxes with a sublime high toned energetic rhythmic piece of gold.

You have an amazing vocal range with perfect control to boot, you have an impeccable ability to create a unique and interesting sound - that I simply can't help but get into on every single listen through.

Better yet is the overall brilliance of the songwriting itself, your song starts of so strong and confident and then shows that even when our actions display a specific personification - in our minds we can still be obsessing, weak and vulnerable, so basically human.

You managed to capture a rather well worn topic, rework it in a creative new way - and the outcome was simply priceless, you've ended up with a real masterpiece.

This is just a stand out entry from this weeks contest and I am so stoked you chose to share it with us, I really look forward to hearing more from you soon!

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3rd Place - @yonderarrietajr2 - Amor Sincero

In the first moments you are just hit by the sudden wave of energy and I was instantly hooked, as I continued to listen I heard a full and textured sound featuring simply divine harmonies throughout.

This is a complete entry, there isn't a single thing I would add - you have a brilliant presentation and energy throughout the performance and it is just that a performance, I could see all of you performing this on a stage in a very similar fashion (to overwhelming support).

What a brilliant and fun entry, I absolutely loved your flawless vocals tonight - I have been listening to entries for going on around 10 hours now, you guys not only made me smile, you made me move and best of all you entertained me thoroughly.

What an awesome song choice, you guys seemed to have so much fun and why wouldn't you when your making such amazing music - I know I thoroughly enjoyed listening to it now about 30 times over while I write this, what I realise is again I never grow bored at hearing this entry no matter how much I listen to it!

I love a song with not only great music and playing in general, but you guys gave us simple phenomenal harmonies that were just next level - and you made it all look like it was effortless fun, well done on an amzing entry into Open Mic.

Given you guys are new to our little contest, I really can't wait to see what little gems you have in store for us next week - thank you so much for your brilliant entry, it really was a pleasure to watch and listen to.

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4th Place - @addiesworld - Feeling Bitter

And she's back and I couldn't be happier, it is hard to believe you only just wrote this song - it's funny how sometimes we are our own harshest critic and when we put ourselves out there the response we get back can sometimes amaze us.

I love that you seem less burdened by sharing your amazing talents with us, I know how daunting putting your unpublished work out there can be - but girl whenever you get behind that guitar and start to sing, you never fail to take me on a magical musical adventure I never quite expected.

As I am sure I have mentioned before I just love your fricken voice hun, you have an impeccable range and control and when you unleash it will full emotions - you make amazing things happen.

Lyrically your song is just sublime, I love the way you share what your feeling in this moment - the struggle and conflict we all sometimes face.

The way we can let others take advantage of us and our better nature, the way we often resent ourselves for our own actions - that may have contributed to their ability to have this affect on us, I think we all go here sometimes and this shows just how versatile this song truly is.

I'm stoked to see you back with us, with yet another sublime top quality entry - you showcase your insane skills and I get to call it a work, sometimes life can be fair and fun :D

I really can't wait to her more from you soon and I hope to hear what you ended up recording in that photo on your post...

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5th Place - @matiasfumagalli - Victoria

You just absolutely nailed this entry into Open Mic, what a passionate and brilliant performance - your playing was just sublime and your vocals were spot on.

I am loving the waves of new exceptional talent that we have washing upon our Open Mic shores, I am stoked to see such brilliant entrants being bought on by other super talented Open Mic entrants - I'm looking at you @pechichemena, that is now several amazing talents I have seen credit you to their arrival at Open mic (thank you so much we are eternally grateful for the sheer talent you keep bringing us)

Sorry bout that now back to @matiasfumagalli, just wow mate what a brilliant entry - you really know how to perform an amazing song.

You have an amazing vocal range and control, you create such a compelling and emotionally moving piece that projects that emotion onto the listener.

Your playing was just brilliant, so full sounding and complex in structure - I'm excited to see what else you will play for us in the future, with your talent the results are bound to be amazing.

I really look forward to hearing more from you in the future, this was a truly brilliant entry into Open Mic and I hope to hear many more from you soon!

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Honourable Mentions:

@adreini - Heartbeat

@smith-house - Charlie's Circle

@branhmusic - The Mirror

@jaredkhamanah - Thinking 'bout you

@yourmercury - Love Of My Life

@jennfer - Bizarre Love Triangle

@steembirds - Steem Dollars Are Flying High

@onetruebrother - Special Delivery

@mrherby - Jailor

@basilmarples - Special Delivery

@joseacabrerav - Entrega Especial

@gabrielinho - A Dios le pido

@fax4u - just the two of us

@piterman - Abi Guesunt

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Well besides the slight irritation I mentioned at the beginning, this week was as always an amazing representation of the brilliant and multitalented musicians on steemit!

I am simply amazed by the constant high quality entries that we get, why aren't some of you guys super famous already???

Now I really have to cut this one off short, it's currently 3:30 am and I have been going hard on Open Mic entries for over 15 hours now - besides some time to parent etc, my sole focus has been Open Mic and man was it a long day at that.

I am hoping that in the coming weeks, we will get things cleaned up around here and get things looking like the used to - so for those of you who actually love and enjoy music it was an absolute pleasure again this week, I look forward to hearing you all again in the coming weeks.

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I'd also like to remind everyone again that all top five nominations from this week, will feature in the Steemit Musicians live radio show on MSP-Waves next week.

A massive congratulations to all of those to be featured in the show, it is going to be great opportunity to get to further share the awesome entries we receive each week - I can't wait to hear the audience's feedback on our selections and your entries.

I hope you can all drop by and support those who made this week's lists, I'm sure they'd appreciate the support - not to mention if you join you get to help choose the weekly 20 SBD winning entry!

Please join us for Steemit Musicians this Sunday 12-1 UTC!

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You can listen live at the mspwaves website- http://mspwaves.com/home/listen
You can listen on twitch-

You can join broadcast hosts in a special chat room on the MSP Discord Channel: https://discord.gg/kNxM7T6
You can check out http://mspwaves.com/ for more information

On the note of the community I thought I'd take a moment to mention that, over at the minnow support program on our discord chat room Peace Abundance and Liberty - the recently revitalised music room has been getting rather active lately.

As well as the recent burst of activity, we have also added a jukebox to the room - so now when you're chatting with people in the music room, you can choose and play music from youtube (this includes open mic entries, I may have already played a couple I really enjoyed).

So far I have seen a few open mic regulars hanging out and about on the PAL chat rooms, now we have a place where we can actively share music live with people were chatting with - this can help musicians in so many ways, not to mention it's just fun to hang out and chat over and about good tunes.

In addition to the new music room Peace Abundance and Liberty chat rooms have a lot to offer, you can access bots to vote on your posts, you can also meet and interact with over 5000 steemians in the channel - this can be a very useful resource to new steemians, but is also a fantastic place to meet and interact with like minded individuals on many different topics.

Again a big thanks to @soundlegion, @jessamynorchard, @verbal-d and @passion-ground for all they do as judges, please remember to go and check out their top five selections each week and to @luzcypher and @pfunk thank you so much for making all of this possible - until next week.

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