Make sure you know more than 2 songs.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/6061154/Buskers-who-only-know-two-songs-given-ASBOs.html
I suppose the Moseley citizens must have felt like
they were in the movie “Groundhog Day”, but the
idea of an Anti-Social Behaviour Ordinance scares
me for some reason.
Something tells me that busking for change at 4 AM is not the best strategy anyway.
There’s loads of them here. They probably make a fortune off all the drunken idiots who gather round and sing along. There’s even a group that takes along amps powered off car batteries.
Most of them can only play oasis songs as well.
i have in the past herd buskers who didnt even know one song 
There once was a man with a double chin
who performed with skill on a violin.
And he played in time and he played in tune
but he wouldn’t play anything but… Punched in the face
Stopped that in the nick of time.
I’m envisioning a group of bovine altos mooing a Bach fugue.
A violin case lies open before them with a little starter hay
to encourage tipping.
I can recall an individual at the bottom of the Underground Escalator in Paddington Station, cap on the handrail-bench, blowing into a mouth-organ. Not playing a tune, or even attempting to. Just Blow, Suck, Blow, Suck, ad infinitum. Americans will observe the paradox that although he was blowing as often as he sucked, he still sucked the whole time.
And he still collected coins!
A friend of mine was sitting on a short retaining wall in Washington DC, he had just finished his coke he had bought at McDonald’s. A passer threw some coins in his cup. I think some people hate loose change.
as was I
I thought that one was supposed to wait until they’re asleep to tip them…no?
I like this idea of bovine buskers. Cow tipping is less expensive and much more fun than throwing change into an open instrument case.
My opinion only here, folks, but if you are busking and you only know two songs, which you proceed to play ad infinitum, you are really begging and not simply playing for tips. The instruments are merely camouflage. I think that you would need at least three songs, anyway, to be considered a genuine busker.
you’re too soft, there, Doug. Even three songs, repeated, is demanding money with menaces. Unless they are about twenty minutes each and played well.
Heck, someone who can’t improvise after they have run through their répertoire shouldn’t be putting their mitts on a musical instrument in the first place.
Yesterday afternoon, I drove up to a red light in the left turn lane at the intersection of two six-lane highways. (That would be the right turn lane for those of you who drive on the wrong side.)
As I drove up, I noticed a fireman walking up the median, seemingly headed for the sign planted at the head of it. He had just arrived with a piece of cardboard and a rubber boot under his arm. The I saw another fireman on the opposite side of the intersection, again with a piece of cardboard and a boot. Both of them just stood there looking around.
Just to see what would happen, I got a couple of dollars out, rolled down the window, and waved them encouragingly. The fireman on my side looked surprised, then came over and held out the boot. I dropped the money in.
Almost immediately, arms shot out nearly every vehicle behind me, waving money. Before the light changed, the fireman had run around to all the cars stacked 5 deep across 3 lanes.
Money also began appearing from vehicles on the other side of the intersection, as well. The fireman over there looked a little taken aback, but soon ran out to collect it.
I’m still not entirely sure they weren’t just out there looking for something that fell off the fire truck.
What if you know umpteen songs/tunes but they all fall within only three modes and only a few rhythmic types?
Then they’d better be good.
make CD
sell same
buy place in Scotland
Denny, you’re way dating yourself. No one’s made any real money off of recordings for a long time, now. Gigs and workshops are where the moolah’s at.
that was back before the day job wasn’t it… 
You still need to make a CD in order to suppliment your income at gigs, workshops, and for online sales. Of course, if you want to be really up to date, you need to be able sell downloadable tunes from your CD.