I was busking central London in the 70s. The £1 coin had just come out. Most tourists didn't seem to know it's value. They thought it was the newly minted 10p or 20p. I was making about £70 per hour. Me, my 12string Eko and a strong voice, no amp. A big smile, upbeat choice of songs. Worked every day. Funded a house of deadbeat hippies in food drink and dope and saved enough to travel the winters in India. Happy days.
If you're planning to busk in Southbank, please beware of London Eye and Southbank Hall area to avoid any disappointments. You absolutely need a licence to busk between London Eye and Waterloo Bridge. This area has the most strict security when it comes to busking in London. They're constantly petrolling the area left and right to check on buskers for their busking permit card. Unfortunately, this is not the only thing you deal with. Today, I got told off by a "fellow" busker and got asked for my busking permit. He asked me to stop performing when I told him I didn't know I needed a busking permit to perform here. He even threatened me to call the security and get me banned from busking in Southbank. After all that talk, he took over the spot. I guess he woke up and said "I'll be a busking police today". Anyway, buskers I've met are mostly the kindest people but it's disappointing to see there are also bad seeds like that in the community.
Good to know my dude! It can be so confusing along that part of the Thames (central London in general) for Busking! 🙌 Busking Police Busker doesn't sound like he's up for the pitch sharing culture... shocking really! Supporting each other is the very top of the Musicians Sacred Code 🙈 I hope you have a better time today/this weekend! 😀
I say No to all types of busking licenses. Real buskers do not use them . One needs a licence to drive not to pitch and play music outside or participate in other forms of self expression. licensing laws against street artists is just another step to total abolination
Thank you so much for this video. It was so well done! I am from Australia and wanting to try busking in London or Brighton soon and your video gave so much helpful information
This video is exactly what I needed. I'm a local busker in York and it's very similar vibes in what you were talking about with Brighton. No license and nice and quick flow in terms of donations aha (I recommend it). I'm hoping to start busking in London so this is genuinely some great tips & tricks. Cheers.
That’s so cool to hear 😃 stoked the videos help!! York is on my list of places to visit this year so I’m excited to visit and play 🙌🏻 thank you for the comment and kind words ✌🏻
Love all the information… great video.. I’m a very amateur “bedroom” musician.. hoping to one day try busking… if I can develop the chops, and the nerve….. anyways thx for this.. new sub..
@dwstoeckel4740 I think you should go for it! You could try open mic and karaoke for singing to get more into the mindset and build confidence - people are very supportive generally... I wish you luck on your new imminent endeavour, if you haven't already started!
I once busked at Leicester Square in the 1990's. An hour of sax playing produced £70. London doesn't really appeal though because of the difficulty in getting there (I'll be touring around Britain in my motorhome). Market towns, seaside towns and cultural places like Coventry appeal more.
That’s so rad!! Getting a small camper van to tour and adventure around in for my busking trips is something I want to do in the future too! 😃🙌🏻 I hope you have a good time!!
Thanks a lot for the video. I am thinking of coming to Brighton next week to busk - any particular place you will recommend? London Southbank can wait for now 😊
Rad!! I made a little guide to busking in Brighton which has spot recommendations on: withkoji.com/@user6670520370/vqcy I'd say if you're here on a weekend then head down to the seafront, it's a real vibe down there and gets nice and busy - there's plenty of choice for spots. If it's a weekday then perhaps try one of the spots in the city centre 😃🙌 let me know when on IG and I'll see if I'm about!
We had a licence for busking on the Tube a few years back. Me, Karl and Ben did a few runs. Money was actually pretty decent. Crap split between 3 people - but as a solo you could make a lot. They have a website you book your station, the pitch in the station and the time. So there is no waiting, and you can plan you whole day moving around stations. Some stations are premium (LeicesterSq for example) so you can only nab those once every 3 days or so.
@@AugustRadioProject contacts at the time. They normally do this odd xfactor thing once a year to add people to the roster. But I knew the guy who did the licences. So he sorted one out. This was about 6 years ago mind.... So it may be totally different now.
Thank you, I’m glad to help 🙌🏻😃 it varies in each borough, best is to Google. You could try emailing Busk In London - they should be able to tell you. I will do a video on this soon (doing in depth research will help me too).
@@AugustRadioProject @August Radio Project thank u! i'll be traveling to london soon so im looking forward to trying out busking for the first time 😁! good luck with the research! 🤗
Thank you! 😃🙌🏻 overall a good response and I enjoyed it. Lots of other buskers about and so good to meet them all. As far as successful busks go, I personally think it’s better to go for the smaller lesser known towns 😎
@@AugustRadioProject thanks, man, it 's on my list of places to busk. I live in spain. Y always honder if they get tired of the song that in other places might be news, though it' s full worldwide people
License ???? Never had and never will apply for license. Busking is freedom. Busking is most honest an expressive form of performance. You can't confine that to "rules". I was informed that you get a "time and place" for playing with license (eg. 1 hour on that square between 10AM and 11AM) ?! That is a nightmare. An artist cannot be "programmed" to give its best at certain time and place. It is just like a regular job but without benefits. Modern world is subtly taking away man's freedom in every way. First the busking licenses , than cashless society , pandemics , politics & wars and what then ? Constant inflation and rat race , corporations , cold modern money driven consumeristic world. And then - an artist , real one - the one who does not fit in programmed society, someone with many colours ! So solution is to confine him in one place and time ??? Never ! What's next, license to breathe ? Real busker should choose its place and time , of course - with respect to other people (not disturbing others). Buskers are making cities more beautiful ! I am not talking about a guy who is actually a beggar , that smells bad and uses his "busking" (one badly performed song whole day) as a cover up for his begging and addiction. I am talking about many of us - artists who don't want to belong to slavery of modern world ,nor music 4 chord same cr*p pop "industry" that is ripping the musicians off . Free and thinking people are enemies of modern money-driven society and theese "licenses" are just another way of control. We should fight this before it is too late. Good luck.
I think a lot of these license systems are put in place to give the illusion that there is control... at the core of everything it is the artists and musicians that stay in control as we're the ones who can produce the art and music that, as you'v'e said, makes such a difference to the places we play 😃🙌
There's definitely gear hire places. Look up "Music Equipment Rental London" on Google and I'm sure you'll find something. I can't tell you what prices would be like... Could also be a great business move for anyone who has gear to rent 😃🙌
how come the police did not approach you for not being licensed?, I always get asked for my license whenever I get My guitar out of the gig bag. I live in camden town and camden council disrespect buskers with an excuse about distracting people from pick pocketing and other crimes etc
This is super interesting! I’m yet to try busking in Camden - I knew you needed license so I just haven’t been yet! 🙌🏻 the reason there were no license checks where I was in this video is that it was one of the places in London where you don’t actually need a licence 😃 but I do believe that this pitch outside the Tate Modern is now not allowed because it’s apparently a ‘residential’ area 🙈
Whilst I was in London filming this video, there were enough musicians around who were collectively looking after the equipment so I was able to go but for busking in general it’s a good idea to watch how much liquids you drink before you play 🙌🏻😃 becoming a master of the 3-4 hours without going is super beneficial! 🙈✌🏻
Hey! So... my answer is, I'm not really sure! If you set up and do some busking, I don't think you'll have any problems whatsoever, nobody is going to ask if you're a tourist or if you're a resident etc... but I'm not 100% sure what the actual rules are surrounding it. Sorry I can't be of more help! 🙌
“You do NOT need a license unless you’re busking in front of the southbank, cuz this is one of the places where you do NOT (again) need a license” ??? 😅
That was really informative and interesting. But I’m so sorry how poor your earnings were. I do not busk a lot but when I do I’m looking to make around £200 but factoring in a 2-3 hour wait it’s just not worth it. I won’t bother going to London! I will come down and gatecrash you one day in Brighton instead! 😉🎸😎
Thank you 🙌🏻 haha Brighton is my favourite place so I’m a little bias… busking in London was a lot of fun though and I learned a lot. Also I’ve been contacted by a few other London buskers who have given me some more tips on how to make better donations. I’ll be doing a round 2 to put them to the test so stay tuned 😃🎸
@@AugustRadioProject Edinburgh Fringe is very lucrative. If I busk as Yoda I can do around £200 for an hours set, if I busk as a ‘normal’ person it drops to around a quarter of that! 😮🎸😎
Hi In the video you mention, that you do not need the licence. But if I search for it on official city sites, you need permition to work in the UK and and insurence. I wanted to come with my singing school (me and two young singers) from Slovenia, to busk for about 5 days. Can you please help me with some additional advice?
@@Mrsergejrupreht I'm not sure what the rules are for coming from overseas? I recommend maybe reaching out to 'Busk In London' - they may be able to help you further :) I do meet lots of people coming to the UK/London/Brighton to busk who are international so it must be possible! I hope you figure it out! ☺
Duuude! I’m a London busker, used to do the Tate but now I’m always in Leicester Square :b definitely agree that the best part is being able to be with other musicians all day long, bonding and having fun while waiting! My advise for London busking, is that because you only have one hour, you need to have your set prepared af! You should only play your very best songs, talk in between songs to make people relate to you and care for who you are, try and think of original ways of getting the audience engaged, like picking someone from the audience and dedicate a song to them. Anything wholesome that’ll make the experience more heart warming and make people want to tip :) music by itself is not special enough for London, unless u do guitar tapping or crazy loop pedal patterns xD you basically should prepare your set to be a show. And then £50 plus per hour should be average for you. I could keep going xD just hit me up on insta if you ever need more advise. Also, u got mad kills, this video was super amusing, keep it up!! 😚
Wow! This is a video in of itself 😃 thank you so much! Such great advice. I really like the technique of dedicating songs and creating a more ‘gig’ like atmosphere! I definitely learned a lot from my London busk (and more now using the feedback to this video). I actually enjoyed it so much that I’m coming back in the coming weeks! Thank you so much 🙌🏻🤙🏻
@@AugustRadioProject come down to Leicester Square! even without license, u might get to play for a few times before being stopped :b i'm there very often on thursdays!
I've written a quick-reference guide version of this video, should you want to download it before you head to Bankside to Busk: koji.to/k/9dZa 😃
I was busking central London in the 70s. The £1 coin had just come out. Most tourists didn't seem to know it's value. They thought it was the newly minted 10p or 20p. I was making about £70 per hour. Me, my 12string Eko and a strong voice, no amp. A big smile, upbeat choice of songs. Worked every day. Funded a house of deadbeat hippies in food drink and dope and saved enough to travel the winters in India. Happy days.
If you're planning to busk in Southbank, please beware of London Eye and Southbank Hall area to avoid any disappointments. You absolutely need a licence to busk between London Eye and Waterloo Bridge. This area has the most strict security when it comes to busking in London. They're constantly petrolling the area left and right to check on buskers for their busking permit card. Unfortunately, this is not the only thing you deal with. Today, I got told off by a "fellow" busker and got asked for my busking permit. He asked me to stop performing when I told him I didn't know I needed a busking permit to perform here. He even threatened me to call the security and get me banned from busking in Southbank. After all that talk, he took over the spot. I guess he woke up and said "I'll be a busking police today". Anyway, buskers I've met are mostly the kindest people but it's disappointing to see there are also bad seeds like that in the community.
Good to know my dude! It can be so confusing along that part of the Thames (central London in general) for Busking! 🙌
Busking Police Busker doesn't sound like he's up for the pitch sharing culture... shocking really! Supporting each other is the very top of the Musicians Sacred Code 🙈 I hope you have a better time today/this weekend! 😀
And you are very talented musician as well. Good luck with busking. Hope to meet you one day in Brighton 😊
I appreciate it!! 😃🙌
Heading to London tomorrow to busk for the first time! Cheers for the advice - really great video :))
I hope it goes well and that you enjoy it! You've certainly got the weather for it!! 😃🙌
Hiya! Thank you! This is a great video ❤
Thank you! Stoked you think so! 😃🙌
I say No to all types of busking licenses. Real buskers do not use them . One needs a licence to drive not to pitch and play music outside or participate in other forms of self expression. licensing laws against street artists is just another step to total abolination
Very friendly and aggressive young man indeed with good tips for buskers...... Merry Christmas.....!
Thank you! 😃🙌🏻 Merry Christmas! 🎄
Thank you so much for this video. It was so well done! I am from Australia and wanting to try busking in London or Brighton soon and your video gave so much helpful information
That’s awesome and I’m stoked you’ve found the videos - I hope they help!! 😃🙌🏻
This video is exactly what I needed. I'm a local busker in York and it's very similar vibes in what you were talking about with Brighton. No license and nice and quick flow in terms of donations aha (I recommend it). I'm hoping to start busking in London so this is genuinely some great tips & tricks. Cheers.
That’s so cool to hear 😃 stoked the videos help!! York is on my list of places to visit this year so I’m excited to visit and play 🙌🏻 thank you for the comment and kind words ✌🏻
Thanks, you answered the questions i was wondering about.
No problem 🙌🏻 glad the video helped, any other questions just ask 😃
Thank you sooo much for this video!
No problem 😃 hope it helps! 🙌🏻
Love all the information… great video.. I’m a very amateur “bedroom” musician.. hoping to one day try busking… if I can develop the chops, and the nerve….. anyways thx for this.. new sub..
That’s awesome to hear and stoked you’ve subbed 😃 can’t recommend busking enough - it’s rewarding on so many levels!! 🙌🏻
@dwstoeckel4740 I think you should go for it! You could try open mic and karaoke for singing to get more into the mindset and build confidence - people are very supportive generally...
I wish you luck on your new imminent endeavour, if you haven't already started!
I once busked at Leicester Square in the 1990's. An hour of sax playing produced £70. London doesn't really appeal though because of the difficulty in getting there (I'll be touring around Britain in my motorhome). Market towns, seaside towns and cultural places like Coventry appeal more.
That’s so rad!! Getting a small camper van to tour and adventure around in for my busking trips is something I want to do in the future too! 😃🙌🏻 I hope you have a good time!!
Amazing! I was waiting for it since midnight! :)
Thank you BBB 🙌🏻😃
Thanks a lot for the video. I am thinking of coming to Brighton next week to busk - any particular place you will recommend? London Southbank can wait for now 😊
Rad!! I made a little guide to busking in Brighton which has spot recommendations on: withkoji.com/@user6670520370/vqcy
I'd say if you're here on a weekend then head down to the seafront, it's a real vibe down there and gets nice and busy - there's plenty of choice for spots. If it's a weekday then perhaps try one of the spots in the city centre 😃🙌 let me know when on IG and I'll see if I'm about!
We had a licence for busking on the Tube a few years back. Me, Karl and Ben did a few runs. Money was actually pretty decent. Crap split between 3 people - but as a solo you could make a lot. They have a website you book your station, the pitch in the station and the time. So there is no waiting, and you can plan you whole day moving around stations. Some stations are premium (LeicesterSq for example) so you can only nab those once every 3 days or so.
This sounds awesome! How do you get the licence? Just apply via a website? I’m game to give it a go!! 😃
@@AugustRadioProject contacts at the time. They normally do this odd xfactor thing once a year to add people to the roster. But I knew the guy who did the licences. So he sorted one out. This was about 6 years ago mind.... So it may be totally different now.
@@ckoshpo Haha that's amazing! It's always about who you know eh!
Do you know this busker ?
ua-cam.com/video/1NvWTbJauuA/v-deo.html
thank you so much for this useful information! 😊 do u know how can i found other spots in london for which i dont have to have a license?
Thank you, I’m glad to help 🙌🏻😃 it varies in each borough, best is to Google. You could try emailing Busk In London - they should be able to tell you. I will do a video on this soon (doing in depth research will help me too).
@@AugustRadioProject @August Radio Project thank u! i'll be traveling to london soon so im looking forward to trying out busking for the first time 😁! good luck with the research! 🤗
Hi Ben your videos are amazing 🤩
Thank you Emma! 🙌🏻
@@AugustRadioProject your welcome ben 🤙
super useful mate, good info, entertaining, fantastic match up with the songs, how did people respond in London?
Thank you! 😃🙌🏻 overall a good response and I enjoyed it. Lots of other buskers about and so good to meet them all. As far as successful busks go, I personally think it’s better to go for the smaller lesser known towns 😎
@@AugustRadioProject thanks, man, it 's on my list of places to busk. I live in spain. Y always honder if they get tired of the song that in other places might be news, though it' s full worldwide people
Soli Deo Gloria.
♥️🔥
🙌 😀
License ???? Never had and never will apply for license. Busking is freedom. Busking is most honest an expressive form of performance. You can't confine that to "rules". I was informed that you get a "time and place" for playing with license (eg. 1 hour on that square between 10AM and 11AM) ?! That is a nightmare. An artist cannot be "programmed" to give its best at certain time and place. It is just like a regular job but without benefits. Modern world is subtly taking away man's freedom in every way. First the busking licenses , than cashless society , pandemics , politics & wars and what then ? Constant inflation and rat race , corporations , cold modern money driven consumeristic world. And then - an artist , real one - the one who does not fit in programmed society, someone with many colours ! So solution is to confine him in one place and time ??? Never ! What's next, license to breathe ? Real busker should choose its place and time , of course - with respect to other people (not disturbing others). Buskers are making cities more beautiful ! I am not talking about a guy who is actually a beggar , that smells bad and uses his "busking" (one badly performed song whole day) as a cover up for his begging and addiction. I am talking about many of us - artists who don't want to belong to slavery of modern world ,nor music 4 chord same cr*p pop "industry" that is ripping the musicians off . Free and thinking people are enemies of modern money-driven society and theese "licenses" are just another way of control. We should fight this before it is too late. Good luck.
I think a lot of these license systems are put in place to give the illusion that there is control... at the core of everything it is the artists and musicians that stay in control as we're the ones who can produce the art and music that, as you'v'e said, makes such a difference to the places we play 😃🙌
Are there places we could rent guitars and amplifiers?
There's definitely gear hire places. Look up "Music Equipment Rental London" on Google and I'm sure you'll find something. I can't tell you what prices would be like...
Could also be a great business move for anyone who has gear to rent
😃🙌
how come the police did not approach you for not being licensed?, I always get asked for my license whenever I get My guitar out of the gig bag. I live in camden town and camden council disrespect buskers with an excuse about distracting people from pick pocketing and other crimes etc
This is super interesting! I’m yet to try busking in Camden - I knew you needed license so I just haven’t been yet! 🙌🏻 the reason there were no license checks where I was in this video is that it was one of the places in London where you don’t actually need a licence 😃 but I do believe that this pitch outside the Tate Modern is now not allowed because it’s apparently a ‘residential’ area 🙈
What do you do if you need to go to the restroom while waiting 2+ hours?
Whilst I was in London filming this video, there were enough musicians around who were collectively looking after the equipment so I was able to go but for busking in general it’s a good idea to watch how much liquids you drink before you play 🙌🏻😃 becoming a master of the 3-4 hours without going is super beneficial! 🙈✌🏻
hey brother i have a question i am from india and am here in london for few days so can i do busking in london as a tourist?
Hey! So... my answer is, I'm not really sure! If you set up and do some busking, I don't think you'll have any problems whatsoever, nobody is going to ask if you're a tourist or if you're a resident etc... but I'm not 100% sure what the actual rules are surrounding it. Sorry I can't be of more help! 🙌
“You do NOT need a license unless you’re busking in front of the southbank, cuz this is one of the places where you do NOT (again) need a license” ??? 😅
🤣🙈 you need a license in front of Southbank. But NOT Bankside (where I busk in the video) 🙌🏻
how long have you been busking for Ben?
You'll have to watch my interview on the Brighton Beach Busking channel! - Out soon! :)
@@AugustRadioProject I will watch your Interview I will look forward to that and it’s nice seeing you again on you tube
You busked in all the wrong places in London😅
Haha!! 🤣 I'd love to do a follow up to this video so feel free to give me some recommendations for central London busking! 🙌
That was really informative and interesting. But I’m so sorry how poor your earnings were. I do not busk a lot but when I do I’m looking to make around £200 but factoring in a 2-3 hour wait it’s just not worth it. I won’t bother going to London! I will come down and gatecrash you one day in Brighton instead! 😉🎸😎
Thank you 🙌🏻 haha Brighton is my favourite place so I’m a little bias… busking in London was a lot of fun though and I learned a lot. Also I’ve been contacted by a few other London buskers who have given me some more tips on how to make better donations. I’ll be doing a round 2 to put them to the test so stay tuned 😃🎸
@@AugustRadioProject Edinburgh Fringe is very lucrative. If I busk as Yoda I can do around £200 for an hours set, if I busk as a ‘normal’ person it drops to around a quarter of that! 😮🎸😎
Hi
In the video you mention, that you do not need the licence. But if I search for it on official city sites, you need permition to work in the UK and and insurence. I wanted to come with my singing school (me and two young singers) from Slovenia, to busk for about 5 days. Can you please help me with some additional advice?
@@Mrsergejrupreht I'm not sure what the rules are for coming from overseas? I recommend maybe reaching out to 'Busk In London' - they may be able to help you further :) I do meet lots of people coming to the UK/London/Brighton to busk who are international so it must be possible! I hope you figure it out! ☺
Great advice but why are you yelling 😭
Sorry, I just get excited! 😀 🙌
Duuude! I’m a London busker, used to do the Tate but now I’m always in Leicester Square :b definitely agree that the best part is being able to be with other musicians all day long, bonding and having fun while waiting! My advise for London busking, is that because you only have one hour, you need to have your set prepared af! You should only play your very best songs, talk in between songs to make people relate to you and care for who you are, try and think of original ways of getting the audience engaged, like picking someone from the audience and dedicate a song to them. Anything wholesome that’ll make the experience more heart warming and make people want to tip :) music by itself is not special enough for London, unless u do guitar tapping or crazy loop pedal patterns xD you basically should prepare your set to be a show. And then £50 plus per hour should be average for you. I could keep going xD just hit me up on insta if you ever need more advise.
Also, u got mad kills, this video was super amusing, keep it up!! 😚
Wow! This is a video in of itself 😃 thank you so much! Such great advice. I really like the technique of dedicating songs and creating a more ‘gig’ like atmosphere! I definitely learned a lot from my London busk (and more now using the feedback to this video). I actually enjoyed it so much that I’m coming back in the coming weeks! Thank you so much 🙌🏻🤙🏻
@@AugustRadioProject come down to Leicester Square! even without license, u might get to play for a few times before being stopped :b i'm there very often on thursdays!
@@SerenaKaos I will do! I’m up for giving it a go! 😎