Pop Idol meet Citizen Karaoke

I admit it -- I'm hooked on American Idol. I love the enthusiasm and bravery of the singers, the all-over-the-map excitement of the performances, the audience participation angle, and even the sometimes prickly interplay between the judges and the contestants. For me (and millions of others, judging from the ratings) it's much more entertaining and engaging than watching slick, scripted pre-fab TV shows.

I also love Karaoke, for many of the same reasons -- and now there's a show in Finland that combines the two! Via Communities Dominate Brands, I learned that the people who  produced Finnish Idol has recently created a parallel, truly amateur contest called "Jokamiehen Idols" (literally "the common man's Idols"). Would-be contestants call a special number, and sing their song into the recording. Audience members  listen to the songs and vote. This contest is open to everyone - and the filtering process is done by the audience from the get-go.

Now,, things get really interesting when you look at the participation stats. Finland has a population of 5 million people. 1,862 Finns sang songs for the contest.  150,000 separate individuals called in to listen and vote. And the whole activity generated 1.95 MILLION separate listening/voting sessions in Finland. More than the total traffic generated by the voting activities of the "real" Finnish Idols show on TV.

We truly are living in the age of user-generated content. I wonder how long it'll be before similar contests show up here in the States?

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