Busking across Europe

Any city with a good metro system will have buskers that are quite good since they need to audition and be licensed for most cities. Particularly Paris!
Some of the unlicensed buskers who ride the metro system are just irritating but many of them are entertaining as well! I've seen quite a few in the London tube that are really very good.
London has plenty of buskers in Trafalgar Square and Covent Garden.

London buskers have a code to follow:

http://buskinlondon.com/code

You might check for something similar in other cities. We saw great buskers in Glasgow.

I have to ask.........why Blackpool?

If you aren't from the EU, you may be in trouble with the immigration authorities if you try to earn a living. There aren't many buskers in London other than Covent Garden.

Barcelona has a great busking culture - a license is required.

Thanks for the great replies!

I do understand there are some permits, local codes and busker conduct/performance codes, and thanks for the link. Blackpool? well I thought I saw a convention there so I assumed it was a possibility. I am from the USA, but I do not want to "make a living" full time, I was hoping to subsidize the trip while sightseeing. In the USA some consider busking free speech, but I don't want to break any EU laws.

busking is playing music (or other action) for money.

You need a working visa.

If you are found to be a tourist working without one expect the bums rush home at your expense, or jail, or being sent away - depending on who, where, what and when.

I had some buskers on my train the other day. They were met by police who found that 3 of the 5 were in the country illegally (without the correct visa). I don't know what happened to them but I expect that they were on the way to a secure unit preparatory to deportation.

What I am saying is I am a little surprised so many members here write
about Europe as one when in fact we are not one.

It's called the European Union.

BTW on your profile, under location, you list "Europe".

Not only will you be running afoul of the law in some places, but you will not be welcomed by the street musicians and vendors who had to pay for their licenses (or if they are illegal, had to pay their handlers).

jm,

As Nigel mentioned, you could run afoul of the law very quickly in the U.K. When your Passport is stamped in the U.K., the stamp clearly states "Employment and recourse to public funds prohibited". Being paid to perform, even in a busking capacity, would likely be considered "employment". If you're travelling with a musical instrument, that will be red flag to the UK border agency agents, and I'm sure they will ask about the purpose of your visit. There may be an exemption for buskers, and it would be prudent to check the laws in each of the places you plan to visit.

I am not taking on the legality or illegality, but I once sat at a café on the Canal St. Martin in Paris listening to two young men debate the pros and cons of various places they had been busking and where they planned to go. Maybe they were legal, but those fluent American accents would make me wonder.

I expect that there is a culture of this going on. I also expect that this board is probably not your best information source :)

Busking is free speech only in the sense that, in theory, the government cannot detain you purely for singing/performing/etc. That said, many places in the U.S., especially in heavily trafficked tourist sites, require you to obtain a busking permit if you intend to perform for money. For example, you can try to do so without a permit here at Pike Place Market and you'll quickly learn that authorities and other buskers won't be happy with you.

In Europe, you can also add earning an income without a permit to the list of things that can get you into trouble. When I applied for a Schengen visa (before I was a U.S. citizen), one thing I was required to prove is that I will finance my trip without working or needing financial assistance from the EU -- the visa waiver program does not exempt U.S. citizens from having to finance their trips without EU funds.

Just as in the U.S, ordinances/permits will vary according to city (this is outside of the whole working-visa issue).

If you do some googling around, you'll run into any number of sites for the busking community, such as this one:

http://busk.co
http://busk.co/blog/mission/

And articles pertaining to individual city restrictions, such as this one for auditions to play the London tubes:

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-33555047

Anyway, connecting with others in the community would be helpful. LOL, I love good buskers, and have thrown my share of $ into their cases but also appreciate a certain amount of regulation. Any of you you've suffered through an alfresco dinner within earshot of a really, really bad - and really loud - busker might know what I mean? Oy. I am, of course, not assuming you are one of those, jmklists.

You might also post your question on Lonely Planet's Thorn Tree forum? You may connect with more individuals who have a bit of firsthand knowledge there.

It is more of a coming together of minds.

It's a bit more involved than that seeing as there is a European Parliament, and European Court of Justice.

It maybe be called the EU that but that does not mean we all have the
same laws.

Same deal in the US (and Canada and Australia), different states have different laws, yet we don't get upset of you refer to us as Americans.

http://www.expats.cz/prague/article/prague-entertainment/buskers-to-flood-the-streets-of-prague-this-week/
you might be interested in this.

In Germany there is a law against verbal incitement, ie, Aufhetzung, we call that free speech here. Keep in mind in the US we are a lot more inclined to engage in litigation, ie, to sue (the US sue syndrome) than is the case in any of the European countries.

Yes, you ride public transport enough in Berlin, you'll see the musicians. I watch how much they get before they get off.