Councillor Chris Harris

‘The guy in the torn t-shirt playing guitar on the pavement’ is an indicator of the cultural wealth of a city, which is in turn an indicator of its economic prosperity, said Richard Florida, author of The Creative Class, at a City of Sydney talk a couple of years back.

But despite taking a high profile on high culture, the City seems to be interfering unnecessarily with how these ‘guys in torn t-shirts’ ply their trade..

An update of the City’s busking policy is about to go on public exhibition.

Arguing that more residents have moved into traditional entertainment areas, the draft policy imposes time limits – 9am to 10pm weekdays and 9am to midnight on Fridays and Saturdays.

Yet anyone who goes out in Sydney knows that places like Kings Cross and Oxford Street hardly get going until 10pm or midnight. And early-rising buskers make better money entertaining morning commuters who are all at work by 9am.

The policy ignores the fact that some busking is silent – like human statues or the Kings Cross Poet who wrote rhymes on request or Kate de Jude the wire sculptor whose raunchy figures deliver an electric tingle or a wetting to cheeky punters. (Pictured: a human statue in Barcelona’s Rambla)

Would-be buskers are expected to pay a fee and get a licence – $10 for three months or $40 for twelve months. Presumably the fee is to cover the administrative cost of charging the fee.

Those caught busking without a license will be fined under the policy. Why fine them? Why not help them. Why can’t rangers just tell them that they need to get a license and even give them a form to fill in with directions to the closest one stop shop.

The policy update allows musicians to sell their cds in two places only, both in Taylor Square.

Why not anywhere else, like Kings Cross for example?

And why have the rule at all? When I asked that question I was told firstly –‘To reduce street clutter’

Really, a few cds in a guitar case are hardly going to bring down the city.

The second reason was that we need to protect the CD retailers in the city. Well, if these guys had a recording contract they wouldn’t be busking and selling their CD’s on the street. The small CD sales that they achieve allow them to survive. CD shops wouldn’t sell their music anyway.

The policy then forbids footpath artists to sell paintings. What’s the problem.

Across the famous Newtown divide visual artists operate with no apparent problem on the Marrickville side, but would be fined on the City side.

And I note that the ‘clutter’ word does not seem to apply to JC Decaux advertising fixtures. Is this a double standard?

There are designated areas for more dangerous diversions like fire-twirling and juggling strange objects. Fair enough, but it’s interesting that the new policy excludes these from Kings Cross while again allowing them in Taylor Square. Is there another agenda going on here? Will it really ‘civilise’ Kings Cross if performing artists are banned from the strip?

The new policy overregulates buskers and makes Sydney less welcoming and affordable for artists and more boring for locals and travellers alike.

Obviously nuisance buskers should be moved on if there is a complaint or if they really are causing a problem to pedestrian through-way.

And buskers are hardly going to make money in quiet, deserted areas of the city. Rather they will gravitate to areas already crowded, noisy and dare I say it – fun!

If you are sympathetic to young people, travellers, performers and life on the streets, I urge you to lodge a comment when the policy goes on exhibition, questioning its overly restrictive sections.

Footnote: An amendment from Cr Marcelle Hoff extended permissible morning hours to 6am and conditionally allowed any busker to sell their cds.