This thread is about the rules and customs governing busking in different cities. Please contribute useful facts that might help travelling musicians avoid getting into trouble with the law, or, even worse, other artists.
For instance, I live near Quebec City, Canada. The rules are that the City of Quebec regulates street entertainment. In otherwords you need a permit or you’ll have to pay a fine. To get a permit you need to audition and pay a fee. The city is divided into various zones and the permit costs more if you want to perform in more touristy areas. The fee also varies depending on whether you’re solo or in a group and whether you just perform or whether you also sell CDs of your music. The fee varies from approx. $150 to $300 for a year, depending on the number of musicians and sale of CDs.
Obviously this system favours local musicians rather than musicians who are just travelling through and want to make bus fare to the next big city.
Also, certain zones are “no go” for buskers during the Festival d’Été and Les Fêtes de la Nouvelle France, as they are reserved for performers who are specially invited.
Minneapolis is pretty user-friendly for the busker. As of this writing, permits are not required (and I know of no changes in the works forthcoming about that), but there are regulations as to where, when, and how you go about it. So long as you’re not amplified, so-designated public spaces are fair game (and no, bars are NOT public spaces, no matter what people would like to think). Private property absolutely requires permission, of course. I’m not sure about festivals with invited performers, but I imagine that you have to be at a specified remove to be legal. Me, I wouldn’t bother; why would I want the competition?
Much of Minneapolis ordinance about this hinges basically on common sense, so it’s pretty nice. All the busker has to do is have the acumen to pick a strategically good spot according to one’s goals, be it garnering money or just being part of the atmosphere. In busking cases I expect the usual 10:00pm-to-6:00am noise ordinance cutoff point to be in force.
(Edited to remove a bit of falsely proffered information brought to light, just yesterday, by another busker, and not really germane to the topic anyway.)
Minneapolis’ classier twin, St. Paul, lumps busking (not their word for it) under the city statutes for begging. You may play (in a public space, all general common sense rules applying as Nano has covered above) as long as you are not actively soliciting funds in exchange for a service. Meaning if you are just finishing the grand final of The Fox Chase and someone is so very moved by the piece (and how could they not be?) that they go ahead and throw a quarter in your case, then that is ok. If said patron requests The Fox Chase and you say, “sure I’ll play it…for a quarter!” Then you are violating city ordinances.
About Prague - as lovely city as it is, busking is a bad idea.
To get the very licence for playing outside, you need to do about five visits of various offices. Do not expect people in those to understand english, except maybe one. And Czech people really don’t like when they can’t speak english, and you try to talk to them. So the licence is rather hard to get.
IF you get the licence, you can’t take any money for it.
If you get caught playing without a licence, or taking money, while having licence, you’ll get fined (there are some okay policemen, who just kick you out of the spot) - it’s about 20-50 euros I think. And in some cases, I’ve heard that instruments were confiscated.
Right now, with few friends, we’re starting an initiative to change this state, which sure sucks…so just to warn you potential visitors of Prague - better don’t try it for now.
Anyway, I guess it’s aimed at nobody - and if anybody, then it’s beggars/homeless people. Gypsies don’t do much music anymore - they used to, but that’s while they were travelling people. Now, even their elders are completely unhappy with the state of their people.
There is a discrimination of them, no doubt about that (like people don’t want them in work as much as they could), but the thing is, they really DO steal on average basis, they DO drink too much. It’s a stupid circle - unless they get “better”, they won’t be accepted. And since they’re not accepted, they have little motivation to get “better”.
They don’t go to schools mostly, therefore they can’t do qualified jobs, and for manual labor, ukrainians and moldavians are cheaper and much more reliable.
Guess that’s what happens when you force the travelling people to settle down. But it’s not that easy really…
The Roma are a group of people who originate in Romania. I think they are a separate ethnic group and they have their own traditions. A lot of the east european countries have very unnatural borders that were defined by wars at different times. I have a work colleague from what was western Czechoslovakia. He has a German name and speaks German as well as the local language. His area was part of the old Austro-Hungarian empire and was one of the border disputes that caused the second world war.
Anyway, thats really off topic.
When I used to busk with a friend on the trumpet and a policeman passed we used to do the nee-naw siren sound complete with doppler effect as they went by. Thats probably a british thing and went right over most of your heads.
A friend of mine used to busk with bagpipes. If I happened to be in the city centre and saw him I’d go put some money in his collection and persuade him to play things like the flintstones theme tune just to see if anyone noticed. We thought it was funny but I don’t think anyone else was paying attention.
