Buskers give 'style mile' code of practice mixed reviews
The guidance includes recommendations that performers do not stay in the same spot all day and ensure they have a wide selection of good quality material to play.
Last updated 19th Dec 2018
A string of complaints from businesses on Glasgow’s ’style-mile’ has led to new rules for buskers.
The guidance includes recommendations that performers do not stay in the same spot all day and ensure they have a wide selection of good quality material to play.
Posters detailing the do’s and don’t’s for performers were put up around Buchanan Street last night.
Mary-Jane’s been busking on Buchanan Street for seven years she said: “If you ask some of the old school buskers they’ll tell you it’s just got to the stage where you can’t even distinguish one busker from another when you walk up and down here on a Saturday. There’s a busker every 50 yards and it’s just a wall of noise.
“If you’re in a shop and you’ve got the same person standing outside where you work playing the same songs over and over again for four or five hours that can get really tiresome.
“Completely agree with having the amps at a reasonable level. I have this one and I never have it up passed halfway but you do have some who come along and they don’t understand the difference between volume and gain and they just turn it up full.”
Singer Ross Anderson doesn’t think it is fair. He said: “I don’t like them. It won’t be good. People are out here trying to make a living and at the end of the day we’re providing a service to the city.
“For people to come along and start saying ‘oh do an hour here, do an hour there’, it’s just not fair. People expect to see buskers when they walk up and down here. People will stop coming to busk. I don’t agree with it at all.”
A spokesperson for Glasgow City Council said: “Street performing, including busking, is a time-honoured art form that adds to the attractiveness and colour of the city of Glasgow. Busking can help to create an enhanced atmosphere and provide pleasure to many people, both locals and visitors while adding to the vibrancy of the city centre.
“Glasgow City Council, in partnership with Community Safety Glasgow, has produced a Code of Good Practice for Buskers and Street Performers which outlines guidance and legal aspects to consider while participating in this type of activity. However, perhaps due to the transient nature of busking or buskers not being aware of the impact their activity may be having on other city centre users, Glasgow City Council receives a number of complaints regarding negative relationships with buskers and adjacent city centre businesses/residents - particularly around amplified equipment.
“With the aim of greatly reducing the number of complaints received by various services, such as GCC, CSG and Police Scotland, while still allowing buskers to perform in the city centre - new posters will be found along the Style Mile detailing Glasgow's Code of Good Practice for buskers and street performers. Such good practice includes:
“GCC aims to find a balanced approach which allows all city centre users to go about their businesses without being duly impacted by the actions of others and the new posters will encourage respect and engagement between neighbouring businesses, residents and buskers. We will work with partners such as CSG and Police Scotland to ensure this happens."