Street Performing (also known as 'Busking')
Street music is a welcome part of town and city life around the world. It provides entertainment to tourists and citizens, and acts as a living for some. It can be a great way for musicians to start out and become professional, or it can just be a fun hobby that makes people smile, bringing good vibes and positive sounds to the streets, many of which are rapidly losing their culture and vitality. The buskers help redress the balance.
Many councils are using often unlawful schemes to push out musicians and other street performers. The busking community aims to have good dialogue with councils and communities to make them see better ways forward and establish agreed voluntary codes of practice. So, I thought it fitting to create this new page to do my part to help the music community. I will be posting links, info, videos and news about street music around the world.
Many councils are using often unlawful schemes to push out musicians and other street performers. The busking community aims to have good dialogue with councils and communities to make them see better ways forward and establish agreed voluntary codes of practice. So, I thought it fitting to create this new page to do my part to help the music community. I will be posting links, info, videos and news about street music around the world.
The Buskers' Recon Matrix
Given that in most places it still feels like there is a war on Buskers, I started gathering 'reconnaissance' - information collected from the online Busker community - and pumping it into something I've made that I call 'The Busker's Recon Matrix'.
It is a handy spreadsheet of data found on Busker forums, a guide which you can use (at your own risk) to help you make better decisions on where and when to busk, based on current info about pitches, by-laws, codes of conduct and license schemes in place and so on. It will evolve over time and includes contact info for local musicians and links to maps of the pitches, videos of people busking there and more.
I could see that eventually this data could even be made into some kind of app for mobile phones, to make it easy for street performers to quickly find a good spot. Until then, the matrix has been placed on Google Docs, so now anyone can contribute to it with no need to log in. Here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1uF-eQm9jZfbBcjvXPV3VWHa-bVjYxtFoJj7YcHMuLSc/edit#gid=0
I will make periodic exports, formated in an Excel compatible document, so that the latest spreadsheet will always be kept posted below.
If you want access to the document or wish me to add on some details for you, or see anything that needs to be amended, please send me a message via my contact form or come chat with me on Facebook. Happy busking!
Below is the latest GoogleDocs Export, saved in Microsoft XLS format. if you don't have MS Office you can install OpenOffice for free.
It is a handy spreadsheet of data found on Busker forums, a guide which you can use (at your own risk) to help you make better decisions on where and when to busk, based on current info about pitches, by-laws, codes of conduct and license schemes in place and so on. It will evolve over time and includes contact info for local musicians and links to maps of the pitches, videos of people busking there and more.
I could see that eventually this data could even be made into some kind of app for mobile phones, to make it easy for street performers to quickly find a good spot. Until then, the matrix has been placed on Google Docs, so now anyone can contribute to it with no need to log in. Here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1uF-eQm9jZfbBcjvXPV3VWHa-bVjYxtFoJj7YcHMuLSc/edit#gid=0
I will make periodic exports, formated in an Excel compatible document, so that the latest spreadsheet will always be kept posted below.
If you want access to the document or wish me to add on some details for you, or see anything that needs to be amended, please send me a message via my contact form or come chat with me on Facebook. Happy busking!
Below is the latest GoogleDocs Export, saved in Microsoft XLS format. if you don't have MS Office you can install OpenOffice for free.
the_buskers_recon_matrix-09apr2015-0209hrsgmt1.xls | |
File Size: | 84 kb |
File Type: | xls |
Links to Online Busker Communities
Instagram
Street Music Map - Intagram
YouTube
Gigs in the Streets - YouTube Channel
Facebook
buskingineurope
Buskers aka Musical Whores
Keep Streets Live
Keep Streets Live in Europe
Other
Busking Maps: https://www.facebook.com/groups/149581285215562/
The Busking Project (a kind of Facebook for Buskers) http://busk.co/
The Busking Bible: http://goo.gl/maps/7B6hD
Street Music Map - Intagram
YouTube
Gigs in the Streets - YouTube Channel
buskingineurope
Buskers aka Musical Whores
Keep Streets Live
Keep Streets Live in Europe
Other
Busking Maps: https://www.facebook.com/groups/149581285215562/
The Busking Project (a kind of Facebook for Buskers) http://busk.co/
The Busking Bible: http://goo.gl/maps/7B6hD