The Mechanics of Busking

If you’ve followed this blog for any amount of time, you’ll be aware of the fact that my husband and I are musicians.  In fact, we’re musicians who rely upon performance for a large part of our monthly income.  Gigging – paid, pre-scheduled performances – are the most efficient way of turning this around.  However, sometimes there just aren’t the gigs lined up for one reason or another.  Some work can be incredibly seasonal (try booking a folk musician  who plays Irish music for St. Patrick’s Night  at any shorter notice than 18 months – can’t be done!), and other work can be hugely dependent on a particular venue and licensing problems can shut down an entire line of income overnight (this happened in our city recently – someone forgot to renew an entertainments license and the venue had to cancel lots of really high profile gigs at a minute’s notice…).

In situations like these, it is really handy to be able to go out and busk.  After a couple of years of fairly intensive busking, I’ve realised that there are some definite rules about how to maximise your earnings whilst busking:

1.       Unusual instruments earn more than guitars.  When I go out busking, I hardly *ever* use a guitar.  In fact, I can think of one occasion in the last  two years, and we put it away after one number.  Passers-by are used to seeing guitars and this makes guitars very easy to ignore.  If you play an unusual instrument, take that.  Even if you only know a couple of numbers, take the unusual one.  When I go out now, I go out with harp and bagpipes, and usually partner a friend who plays hammered dulcimer.  The novelty value of the instruments makes people stop and look, and once they’ve stopped, all it takes is a bit of a smile and eye-contact to get them to open their wallet.  If they stop and *talk*, you’ve pretty much got it made.

2.       Singing can be very situational, make sure that it’s suited to your surroundings.  People tend to react best when you provide a “backing track” to your surroundings.  Voices can work well in a crowded shopping area and well backed by instrumentation.  Unless you have the ego the size of a large elephant, I would never suggest solo acapella singing.  Instrumentation, in my experience, makes people stop.  There is a fallacious, but popular, view that singing is easy, but instruments are hard.  People are always more willing to pay you to do something that they know they can’t do themselves.

3.       Make an effort with your appearance.  It’s a bizarre but true fact that people will pay you more if you are in some sort of costume.  I think it’s possibly to do with the concept of a “performer” as opposed to “bloke on street corner”.  We’ve discovered that even the addition of a simple hat can make all the difference.  And when we dress up like Victorians, we can *rake* it in J  My mission for this summer is to make a couple of nice “Jane Austen” type dresses for the harp and dulcimer duo!  I suspect that Joe Public will find the combination of tinkly strings and heaving bosoms impossible to resist!  If you can provide  a “photo opportunity”, you also up the possibilities of people opening their purses.

4.       Don’t worry about being perfect.  I often treat busking as a chance to do some open air practise.  Most people only listen to a minute at most, so they won’t care if you don’t have a flawless 45 minute set.

5.       Be prepared to talk to people.  Be smiley and open.  Answer questions.  You should aim to have every person that talks to you walk away and say “what a *lovely* person!” to their partner.  Successful busking is about the perception of the people who walk past, rather than your own talent.  I reckon that the most successful busks I’ve done have involved 30% talking  and 70% music.  Don’t be afraid to laugh at yourself.  Laughter is attractive in every sense of the word.

6.       Have cards or leaflets.  Leaflets are better.  Encourage people to take them away.  If you have CDs to sell, all the better.  I’ve received a surprising number of well-paid gigs from people who have seen me out busking.  Of course, it always surprises them that the mild-mannered harper is also a Stevie Nicks tribute artist, complete with 6” platforms

So, if you’re a musician, why not look up your local council’s approach to busking, and see if it’s worth turning out on the next sunny day?