(MALAYSIA) Kuala Lumpur has just legalized street-performing for which 200 have already auditioned.A jury of professional musicians will license the street-performers without any set limit of buskers to be selected.

With a population of 7.2 million people in greater Kuala Lumpur, there are over a 1000 happy buskers waiting to have their day.

Guidelines were being finalized but mainly the buskers must have a clean appearance and be disciplined enough to adhere to the designated time and location.

All that remains is finding suitable pitches in and around the city. Some areas may be modified to accompany busker performances.

Adjustments to the new legalization are to follow. As we've seen before, things can change around, flip-flop, flip again, then change back in as little as 1000 days. Hopefully, they'll...

[ Continued ]

Seems some in Hertford are busy using their heads for something other than hat-racks these days. The East Herts Council has applied to let buskers perform outside a Maidenhead Street site. Street performers may soon be able to entertain at a pitch formerly known as the Woolworths store. The application allows for "performance of plays, live music, recorded music performances of dance, and anything of a similar description to live and recorded music and dance. Interested parties or responsible authorities may make representations in writing to East Herts Council by May 26."

Street entertainers are to be allowed to perform on a privately-owned stretch of London Docklands for the first time, after its owners announced plans to award busking permits in a bid to revitalise the area.

St Katharine Docks in Wapping - next to the Tower of London and owned by property company F&C Reit - is now looking for performers such as magicians, jugglers and musicians to entertain in one of four designated zones within the site.

One of the proposed busking areas sits on the riverfront next to Tower Bridge, while another would see performers make use of a courtyard space known as Centre Basin.

The street performers idea is part of a wider initiative aimed at raising awareness of St Katharine Docks and increasing visitors to it, which is being overseen by Gossip Consultancy on behalf of F&C Reit. It is hoped that the initiative will help enliven the area, in much...

[ Continued ]

(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...

[ Continued ]

Ocean City, Maryland city council passed a resolution limiting it's boardwalk buskers and street performers to two pitches "so everybody can co-exist a little bit better", said Mayor Rick Meehan. The performers lobbied against the the ordinance which would keep them away from store-fronts and benches.

In a written statement that was evidently read to the council, "If it is the intention of the council to eliminate street performing, then I urge them to pass this new ordinance", said busker Alexander Osborn whose reverse-psychology probably didn't help.

The law was passed unanimously by council members. The boardwalk is a well-known beach hangout and visited by over 2.4 million tourists a year. The performers were successful in making one change, however. They can...

[ Continued ]