Street performing, or busking at it’s often referred to as by street performers, is an excellent way to not only improve your skills, but also a great way to earn some extra cash.
But how much do street performers make? Let’s look at how much street performers earn and how you can improve your busking.
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How Much Do Buskers Make?
How much you make as a street performer is going to depend on a few things, mostly where you perform and when.
Getting a solid estimate on the earnings of street performers is a bit difficult since it can vary wildly and many buskers don’t really say what they make.
From what I can tell, an average day of busking can bring in about $50 during the weekdays, but that can easily go up to between $100 – $150 a day over weekends. In a good location and the right timing, I’ve seen street performers earning up to $500 in a single weekend.
Some smart buskers have even turned their performances into full-fledged enterprises, selling merchandise alongside their acts. For instance, I know a busker here on Venice Beach in Los Angeles who not only earns tips from their performance, but also sells CDs (yes, people still buy them for the artwork), T-shirts, hoodies, and trucker caps.
Considering that the price range of these items is typically between $10 and $35, and I’ve seen at least six items sold within a half-hour, this artist is likely making close to $200 on a slow day just from merchandise sales.
When you add in the tips and donations, it’s not a bad payday at all.
How to Make Your Busking Great
There are a few things you can do to improve not only your chances of earning money, but also how much you can earn while busking.
Location
This one is a bit obvious, but where you perform plays a big part in how much you can expect to make.
Areas with a lot of foot traffic, squares, waterfronts, town and city centres, subways, these are all great places to set up and attract the most amount of people.
Avoid areas that already have a larger number of other performers. You want to avoid having to compete with other street performers for people’s attention and money.
Timing
Choosing when to perform also adds a lot of value to your chosen location as when you perform can affect how much you earn.
Weekends will be your best bet, not only because you’ll have the most foot traffic, weekends will also be when people aren’t rushing to and from work or busy with errands.
People will be more relaxed over weekends and more willing to stop and take notice of your performance, and you’ll be more likely to get tourists and out of towners.
Also keep track of any festivals or large events happening in your area so that you can take advantage of the larger crowds that they’ll attract.
Stand Out
Even with the best spot at the best time, you still need to stand out from other performers if you want to expect to make money as a busker.
Simply playing guitar while singing isn’t going to be enough since most people have seen 20 other performers doing the exact same thing.
Performers that play other instruments, like cello or violin or saxophone, often report earning far more than performers that sing and play guitar or drums.
If you can play another instrument, rather try busking with that, but even if you don’t, you can still spice up your singing and guitar playing.
You can learn to use a loop pedal or even playing with backtracks can already make you more unique than other performers.
Most importantly, be entertaining. Dance, interact with the crowd, wear a costume, these can all make you stand out more.
It’s obvious that standing out is necessary to succeed as a street performer. However, nowadays, you need to take it a step further and be Instagram and TikTok-worthy.
This means being unusual, having a gimmick, and possibly being outrageous. You need to be a performer that captures people’s attention to the point where they stop what they’re doing, take out their phones, and record either a live feed or their own video. They do this so they can edit and upload it later.
For instance, there’s a hilarious performer on the third Street promenade here in LA who has a full drum set made of junk percussion. He doesn’t even attempt to appear cool or have good rhythm.
He plays an 80s rock song and accompanies it with his funny percussion while making a serious face. It’s absolutely hilarious. It’s a comedy act.
This act has not only gained him popularity on Instagram and TikTok, but he has also been featured on the local news because of his uniqueness. I’ve seen his donation jar overflowing, which I can only imagine easily reaches close to $1000 a day, and I’m not exaggerating.
Crowd Collaborations
Another good technique to grow your money while busking is to involve crowd members in your act. For example, I remember one artist who would perform her original songs on Hollywood Boulevard, where the Walk of Fame is located.
She gained an independent record deal because she would ask couples how they met and then immediately start singing a ballad about them, using their names. A Rep from a label happened to be in the crowd.
This approach may seem a little cheesy, but it’s clever and effective. She would also invite kids to sing along to Taylor Swift songs or whatever pop song was popular at the time, allowing the crowd to choose which song they wanted to sing along with her.
This type of thinking not only works well for engaging the audience, but also has a positive impact on social media. If someone’s daughter visiting from Arizona is singing along to a talented singer on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, it’s likely that someone will post about it and tag you.
Promote your Subscription Accounts
The amazing thing about the Internet is that you can create multiple fans and paying customers without them realizing it immediately. I know a busker who is an incredible hip-hop artist, and he doesn’t directly ask for donations or money.
Instead, he gets people to sign up to receive a free song via email. In that email, he promotes his Patreon account.
According to him, this approach works. I’ve hired him for a session before, and he’s shared how many monthly subscribers he gets on Patreon.
So, even though “busking” technically refers to a street performer doing their thing live, is anything really live anymore? Most savvy artists would argue that “live” is simply an invitation to join their online world.
It’s almost like everything is backwards. But it definitely benefits buskers.
Have a Good Repertoire
If you’re looking to really attract crowds, you should learn as many songs as you can ranging from old favorites to modern hits.
People are more likely to stick around and give money to someone playing songs that they know and enjoy listening to.
Having a large repertoire of songs to play will also help you adapt to changing crowds, and can even help you attract certain crowds depending on the types of people you can see walking past you.
Know Your Local Laws
A big mistake people often make is thinking that they can simply go to any street corner, throw down a hat, and start busking since they’re public places.
This is certainly true for some places, but you’ll likely need some form of permit or permission to be able to perform.
Check with your local government for any permits you might need and any laws regarding noise and street performance.
Final Thoughts
And that’s it, the most important things to know regarding busking to give you an edge and help you make a nice amount of extra cash as a street performer.
If you do use amplification be sure that it isn’t too loud.