The Galway, Ireland busking community has published their own code of conduct ahead of the implementation of city council bylaws to regulate the activity. The code is being launched as part of the ‘We Support Friendly Busking’ campaign.Galway Buskers Community argues there is no need for busking bylaws, stating its new document promotes positive and responsible practices among street performers.

The group is also promoting a new slogan ‘Our Art, Our Streets, Our Responsibility’.

The initiative aims to improve the relationship between buskers and the business community with focus areas including noise levels, duration of performances and crowd obstruction.

The group says any move to rollout bylaws or permits would seriously impact Galway’s reputation as a major arts and culture hub. New bylaws to...

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(OTTAWA) — Buskers in the ByWard Market want the City of Ottawa to see them as performers, not panhandlers, and keep its hands out of their pockets — and their hats and guitar cases.“I’m going to move if they don’t change,” said Paul Perreault, a Cirque du Soleil-trained acrobat.

Just in time for the municipal election, buskers are getting organized in response to a city bylaw that went into effect last spring. The bylaw requires street performers in the Market to pay up to $200 for licences, rotate positions frequently and make do without voice amplification.

In response, buskers have formed an association, endorsed a candidate in Rideau-Vanier and voted unanimously in favour of a proposal to amend the bylaw.

Perreault said the current rules are so restrictive, they’re making top-notch international...

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(from the You've got-to-be-kidding-me Department)
One of the themes of 2009 was that collection societies around the world went nuts trying to charge for anything they possibly could while also trying to increase the rates they could charge. Even banks went wild with their hidden charges.

Remember how one collection society wanted to charge a woman because she put on music in public for her horses? Or how about the woman who worked in a grocery store who was told to stop singing while stocking the shelves or the store would have to pay a performance fee? And, of course, we had ASCAP trying to claim that ringtones were public performances, and mobile operators needed to pay up -- beyond the license fee that was already paid on the recording.

SOCAN, the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada, has been no exception pushing for drastically increased rates...

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(SACRAMENTO) Watch out San Francisco. The California capital is taking measures to encourage buskers and street-performers to entertain their fair city. Dozens of new murals have been painted on buildings around midtown and new legislation allows for more of the performing arts both inside and out.Buskers were once pushed out of Sacramento and other downtown areas pressured by frustrated business owners and residents who complained about the noise or said the musicians were blocking sidewalks. But as Sacramento’s urban core continues to develop and momentum continues in the local creative community, bringing back the buskers has become a hot topic around town.

The Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission as well as the Creative Economy Pilot Project will soon receive funding for projects over the next two y...

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(CAPE TOWN) Buskers and street-performers are busy celebrating City Hall's decision to legalize performing in Cape Town.The South African city made news earlier this year when blind busker Lunga Nono was beaten by metro police for busking in St. George's Mall.

Charges against the busker have recently been dropped in favor of new legislation. Nono's guitar was broken in the melee which took place in front of his family and onlooking tourists. A music shop donated a new guitar to Nono who has filed a lawsuit.

Now that the city has come to it's senses about the performing artists and tourism, just about anything goes. This includes street musicians, acrobats, clowning, comedy, contortions, dance, singing, fire skills, mime, living statues, music performance, puppeteering, storytelling, poetry, painting,...

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