Busking To Earn Money

Busking is a good way for an entertainer to make money. Busking is the performance of entertainment in the street for the crowd in exchange for voluntary donations. Usually buskers entertain the crowd with music or by dancing. However busking entertainment now encompasses the performance of magic tricks, street art and any performance that may entertain a crowd.

Anyone Can Be a Busker

Although musical entertainers performing with an instrument are the most prominently known buskers it can take many forms. For example a choir performing on the streets without musical instruments can be called buskers. There are even Poetry Busking where the buskers write impromptu poetry for paying customers.

There are even buskers who do not move at all (somewhat). They are called Living Statues. They dress up in costumes and are usually painted all over to resemble a statue. They stay still for long periods at a time moving only once a member of the crowd interacts with them. Others have special tricks like Levitation Poses to draw in inquisitive crowds.

I have seen groups of buskers in Sydney, Australia who perform at large open air locations performing circus acts and magic tricks. They are professional acts. There would be the performers in the group, an emcee and several donation solicitors so it is a complete business. They attract large crowds and I have even seen donations paid in bills not in coins.

Can You Earn Decent Money Off It?

This is the all important question. Online articles searches like when you Google “can you make a living out of busking” will tell you indirectly that you could make a living busking. YouTube video search “can you make a living from busking” and you will see videos of buskers making a living from busking.

It is important to note from many of these videos is that you can really make a living out of busking. There are buskers who do it part-time as a source of extra income and there are those who do it professionally. While the professionals may not be millionaires they nevertheless survive on their income and at times beat out the hourly wage of an employed person.

There are YouTube videos like This London Underground busker makes up to £60 an hour from Business Insider which as the title suggests a busker makes much more than an employed person will earn in an hour. To be precise he earns in 2 hours what a normal person will earn in more than 8 hours of work a day.

There is also an interesting YouTube video titled Turning A Passion Into Income - Busking For University from MoneySmart.sg which also as the title suggests tells the story of a female university student supporting her university studies thru busking.

There are just so many inspirational stories of people supporting themselves thru busking. But one thing I have noticed in these videos is that the places where these people do their busking are relatively upscale and safe locations. So make sure that you are in a safe and well walked area where people can hear or see your performance and even assist you if need be.

It is a Business

Although anyone can be a busker the law can mostly decide if you can legally be one. In many countries and dependent on city or state law you may need to have a certain license and pay a fee to be able to busk. There are however places where you can busk without needing a permit from the local authorities.

So even if you just want to do busking as a hobby to improve or measure your entertaining talents you have to take note that sooner or later depending on the law it would be classified as a business where you have to pay fees and taxes. There are places also like London where buskers have to display their ID as well as be able to busk only in designated areas.

What You Need to be a Busker

You do not need much to be a busker. If you are a musician you can just bring along your musical instruments. Additionally for greater crowd reach you could bring along a microphone and a loudspeaker so the people can hear you more. You should also have like a big parasol umbrella for protection from the weather if you are performing outdoors. Of course you also need a donation box, hat or some object where people can put in their donations.

Other Ways To Earn Money

Although selling merchandise is illegal when you do busking it is not illegal to sell your entertainment merchandise. There are buskers who sell their music in CD form for example. If you are doing entertaining people besides using music you could also try and sell CDs or DVDs of your performances. For example a magician busker might sell CDs of their magic tricks.

You can also do online busking. Google “online busking sites” and you would see Busker, Periscope, Steemit and other online platforms being mentioned. It does not have to be just these platforms. As long as you can broadcast yourself and collect money you can busk online. Even in YouTube this is being done in one form or another.

Opportunities

The more people you reach and the more you polish your act the better are the chances of you getting better returns from your busking. You might be approached by people working on entertainment venues to perform for them on a regular basis for regular pay or you might get discovered virally in social media and become famous.

That is why it is important that you also advertise way of connecting to you whether thru social media, your own website, mobile phone number or e-mail. You have to decide which is the best for you. Many people take videos of buskers and if you provide ways of connecting with you thru your visible contact details the greater the chance of people knowing you and your talents.

For example if you advertise your YouTube channel when you physically busk people who are interested in you or your talents will easily find you in YouTube should they decide to check further. From this simple advertising you can better draw people to your YouTube channel and potentially make additional online income.

There are many people who became famous celebrities from their humble start as buskers on the street. There is a Wikipedia page on busking also called Street Performance which gives a long list of people who became famous from busking. George Michael and Rod Stewart are a few notables in the list.

Conclusion

Busking is not only for those with a musical bent but also for those who have the talent to entertain a crowd in one form or another. You could also make a living income from busking and might even beat out regular employed persons in terms of income. Do remember that busking is a business and there are many factors that affect your income. The greatest advantage of busking however is the possibility of becoming famous and it is more possible now than ever thanks to the internet.