After years of performing on the street, we have put together a list of suggestions for more profitable and enjoyable busking. It is possible to earn over £60 an hour if you are performing in a good location, adapting your repertoire to a generous audience and projecting a professional image.

Location

Choosing a location is not just about finding the place with the most people, it is about choosing an area where you can target the right sort of people, the ones who will perhaps be the most generous or interested. If there aren’t enough people, or they are too busy, then profits will be minimal and the experience could be very awkward!

1. Small cities and towns that attract visitors for their culture or history can be good locations, as people visiting these generally have more time to stop and appreciate music.
2. Choose a pitch in a relatively busy street in a shopping area where people are wandering around rather than just passing through.
3. If you are performing in December, try to choose a location where people are shopping for novelty stocking fillers rather than where they are doing serious Christmas shopping
4. It’s a good idea to perform near some benches if you can so people can sit down and enjoy your performance. However, try not to stand near to places where you could ‘trap’ people into listening to your performance, such as bus stops.
5. Arts festivals can attract the sort of people who appreciate street entertainment, and generally bring more people into a town/city, so it can be good to perform in a location while a festival is taking place. The British Arts Festivals Association lists most major UK festivals.
6. Stay away from the main shopping streets in large city centres. Although these are busy places, people are likely to be too busy to take an interest.
7. Don’t stand in front of shop windows blocking displays – you’re likely to get moved on! Some shopping centres (both outdoor and indoor) may have restrictions that apply to street performers, or may not allow them at all.
8. Avoid performing too near to other buskers as this will reduce profits for both you and them. Similarly, try not to stand near to people collecting for charity.
9. Some local authorities require musicians to apply for a permit to perform on the street. Visit the Licences Page to check restrictions in your area.
10. You may want to participate in a dedicated busking festival – visit the News page to see if there are any opportunities like this coming up soon. Participating in these could be very enjoyable, and some offer cash prizes or further performance opportunities for winners.

Repertoire

If you are a songwriter and are busking primarily to promote yourself as an artist, then it makes sense to perform your own compositions. If your main object is to make money, try to tailor your repertoire to the people who are likely to be the most appreciative or generous.

From personal experience, this includes:

Parents with small children
People working in the area
Elderly people

Parents of small children generally view donating to buskers as an activity to keep children amused while shopping. It is worth including a few upbeat, jolly tunes in your repertoire to appeal to parents and children. ‘People working in the area’ covers a very wide variety of individuals probably with very differing tastes in music. Therefore it would be very difficult to tailor your repertoire to this group, but it is a good idea to perform a variety of different pieces so there is not too much repetition.

Elderly people generally have more time to spare than other groups of society and can therefore stop and listen to buskers. As a group they also tend to be more generous. It is therefore worth including some well known old songs in your repertoire – from personal experience I have found ‘Danny Boy’, ‘On the Street Where you Live’ and the ‘White Cliffs of Dover’ to be particularly successful for the clarinet.

General advice:

1. Play well known tunes. If someone finds themselves singing along, or your performance reminds them of a person or time in their life they are likely to respond.
2. Play easy tunes. You are less likely to make a mistake which is very easy to do when you are very cold and being heckled!
3. If you are busking alone, choose melodies that stand up well even without their accompaniments. If you perform pieces without their integral riff you run the risk of people not recognising what you are playing.
4. If you are performing while an arts festival is taking place you may want to tailor your repertoire to the clientele attending.

Image & Appearance

Presenting yourself correctly can increase the attention you receive dramatically. To create a professional image and increase profits consider trying the following:

1. Look like you enjoy performing. This need not mean constantly grinning (if you are playing a wind or brass instrument this could look very strange!) but an animated performance is more enjoyable to watch than a static one and creates a feeling that the performer knows what they are doing.
2. Dress smartly, but not in clothes that suggest you have a lot of money. You do not want to be confused with a beggar but neither do you wish to convey the idea that you have a lot of money already.
3. Play from memory. Music stands are an unnecessary nuisance on the street and the absence of sheet music allows occasional eye contact with the audience.
4. Prepare for the weather. Tie long hair back and consider taking a stick with you to prop open your instrument case if the weather is windy. I find wooden chopsticks useful for propping open clarinet boxes.
5. Try not to get in people’s way. Position yourself at the side of the street and stand a little way back from the box in which you are collecting money. This makes it much easier for people to donate quickly if they are in a hurry. However, do not position the box so far away that it is easy to steal!
6. If possible, use your instrument case to collect money to create a more professional image.
7. Do not take your dog. This will make you look like a beggar.
8. Put some coins in your case before your start. It is a good idea to use higher value coins (£2, £1, 50p) to encourage donations of this amount. I have found that there is little point including notes of £10 and above as it is very rare that someone is quite this generous, so this unlikely to have the desired effect.
9. If possible, get a friend or family member to make a small donation when business is slow. This often encourages other people to do the same.
10. If your case looks very full, remove some money into a bag that can be kept on your person. If there is too much money in your case people may decide that you do not need to collect any more.

Times

The most profitable working hours are generally between 10am and 4pm.

It is normally best to perform for about 1 hour at a time. This gives people working in the area a break, which is especially necessary if you have a limited repertoire, and gives other buskers a chance to perform.

Summer and the lead up to Christmas are usually the most profitable times. However, in some locations, Christmas Eve can be very unprofitable. This is because every man and his dog (literally!) decides to go busking on Christmas Eve. This can create a very enjoyable and festive atmosphere, but creates too much competition for any great profits to be made.

Do not busk in the rain. People will be too busy trying to get under cover to listen to a busker, and the rain could damage your instrument.