How much can you make?

[Rex Boyd]

I got this answer to the question of how much a busker can make from Windsor. He doesn't like computers so I'll write it for him.

You can make about as much as any other self employed laborer like a plumber or a mechanic. Yes they make something like $50 to $80 an hour. How many hours they work depends upon how good they are, how well they market themselves and where they work. It's the same for us.

Rex

[Peter]

How much CAN you make of how much DO you make is the real question. I just did a one day fest in Cincinnati OH and made $1000. I have had other times when I made less than $100 for a day. I usually average between $40 to $50 an hour.

This is a tricky business. That is why I LOVE it!

[Humanoid Gone Mad]

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Big Hats are for people with Big Heads.
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Iv told people in the past how much I make on the street and when you do you can see their brains do this little 'back-flip-thing' and they add up how much you do in an hour times by the hours in a day and the days in a week and the n their jaw sort of drops.. but thats not reality ... The reality is that for me and my show theres a peak of about 2 hour in a day to work and I dont work every day and the hours that I put in of the 'pitch' that the audiance never sees I dont get 'paid' for , well not with direct dollars anyway.

So Zack I think what it really comes down to is you've got to WANT to work on the street and perform because theres some thing else inside you , a passion that will keep you there even when the money is Crap!

One of the things I'v noticed and talked to a lot of other buskers about is; That when you go out thinking about the Money you dont get it but when you go out because performing is really what you want to do and your filled with passion then the money flows in abundance more than you could have hopped for or 'projected' in a plan.

So enjoy 'The Magic'

www.humanoidgonemad.com

[BFlat]

I couldn't agree more Humanoid!

It's the same for every performers, there is a time peak where it's best to perform each day. And it's true, I have noticed the same when you tell people how much you earn in an hour. They immediately translate that into their point of view which is 9 to 5, 5 days a week. These people have no conceptions at all of what the street performing reality is like.

Yeah, if I'd work from 9 to 5 and so 5 days a week and be paid as much as I make by the hour on the streets, I'd be rich. But to me it's simply impossible. I play saxophone, it doesn't seem like it but it's very physically demanding to play that instrument. It's impossible to play saxophone 8 hours a day. After 2 hours of straight playing, my lips start to go numb. And I immagine that it's gotta be the same for performers of all kind. You can't juggle or eat fire or anything else for 8 hours a day. Sure there are people who can do it for extended periods of times, but to what cost? I can play sax up to 4 hours non stop. But I know that past those 2 hours that my playing will suffer, I won't sound as good because of fatigue. And also I know that to keep playing such a long time that I'm risking to injure my lip and embouchure muscles. Depending on how serious the injury is, I can be 2 to 5 days without playing to recover from the injuries.

Plus, every hour of the day aren't the same. 10 in the morning or 5pm at night are waaay different, the crowd is different. So it's not very intelligent to risk injuring myself for an extra hour or two just to make how much extra? It's not worth it. Therefore, I rarely play more than 2 hours a day on the streets.

And a strange thing that I have noticed; performers who say they earn the most money are often the ones who aren't so talented. And are also the ones whom I've noticed that they stay outside , up to 10 hours a day and more, ready to perform at any time, cause they are so 'money-hungry'. Surely I think, that if they would invest less of their time out there and focus their energies in that 2 hours when it's best to perform, that their performance would be much better, and that they would earn more by the hour during those two hours.

I'm one of those who believes in quality rather than quantity. Plus, I find that it's much more fun that way.