Forums > Help! > The Art Of Busking

Posted: 18th Jan 2005

I am not sure about the laws here in australia so probably the first thing i would do is see if you need insurance and special permits to busk with fire here in australia dude.

Other than that. I guess anywhere thats safe to do so and where there is lots of people.

And wether you want to busk or not is your business alone.
Do Guitarists get pissed off when they see a person in the mall with a hat on the ground belting out "holy Grail" by Hunters and Collectors?

Hell no, except maybe for ruining a good song

Fair luna bright, fair luna moon
it shines at night but fades too soon
fair luna moon, fair luna bright
forever we dance
we dance under starlight

Posted: 18th Jan 2005
but, instead of a hat, put your fuel tin in a really obvious spot. if people want to throw money in it, fine. but you arent busking then, you're just having fun.

'hey, thats my fuel tin, officer. no, no it isnt a money collection tin, people just keep throwing stuff in there.'

"beg beg grovel beg grovel"
"master"
--FSA

"There was an arse there, i couldn't help myself"
--Rougie

Posted: 18th Jan 2005
when i was in aus i would busk on the southbank in melbourne.

Most people were cool about it and i earned a decent amount of money some nights. the police hassled us once and just told us to move on, i just played the stupid foreigner. But beware of the crazy ice cream salesman there, he came after me and my mates with a baseball bat, BE WARNED!

s-luke

Ninjas NEVER give up!

Posted: 18th Jan 2005
have you tried asking local bars?

Theres a few in my area that often have fire performers outside on the pateo or garden, you might get a little bit of money from the owners, but your bound to get free drinks afterwards. Also if you do well and gather some photos you might be able to aproach other bars or even clubs offering it for a price. Its suprising the amount of people you can draw in if you do it often and bars soon catch on.

I do not fear death, i just don't want do be around when it happens to me

Posted: 18th Jan 2005
It is quite specific to your local area.. but here in Brisbane you only need a licence to busk at places like southbank (public parkland area owned by big corp) and the city & valley malls.... you audition & if they are happy with your standard of performance & you have public liability insurance you can pay for a licence.. unfortunately the malls won't allow fire, so that's not possible...

other than that it is fairly ok to busk here in public places.. (although police would be able to move you on for creating a disturbance if they wanted to).. and some places that seem like public land are actually privately leased so you need to get permission...

Obviously you are much more likely to be allowed to do it if you have a nice defined space, good safety area & public liability insurance.. and then generally giving a nice show and not disturbing the shops/cafes etc around you too much would help too ...

We started off years ago busking at the Mt Coot-tha lookout.. it was a perfect spot where we could easily gather a crowd as they arrived to have a look at the view.. do a quick 15min show, collect and then have a break for 1/2 hr to wait for them to leave and a new crowd to gather... it was wonderful - a dark open space with constant traffic and no other activity... it was privately leased but the owners loved the extra entertainment... it was a great way to learn a lot about performing, about what worked for us & what didn't.. and what would keep a crowd.. there was also the spin off of quite a bit of private performing work too which was a nice bonus..

Posted: 18th Jan 2005
I have to say this. This topic, including specific to Australia, comes up alot. Please use the search function to bump up old threads and get new insights.

Pele
Higher, higher burning fire...making music like a choir
"Oooh look! A pub!" -exclaimed after recovering from a stupid fall
"And for the decadence of art, nothing beats a roaring fire." -TMK