I wonder if those impeccably dressed Jehova's Witnesses in SF subway stations collect data on their pamphleteering/conversion efforts
My Experience Busking in San Francisco
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Re: My Experience Busking in San Francisco
#12I used to busk with a friend on NYC subways. We each made $100 a day for 6 hours of singing consistently.
That seems incredibly low, was it a while ago? Considering how much money I see people connect sitting silently with a cardboard sign, I would think performing in NYC would net a lot more.
Its actually a lot more than most random beggars make - and at $17 an hour, more than many New Yorkers.
Re: My Experience Busking in San Francisco
#13I wonder if those impeccably dressed Jehova's Witnesses in SF subway stations collect data on their pamphleteering/conversion efforts
They use pamphlet a/b testing as a service for continuous improvement of user acquisition
Re: My Experience Busking in San Francisco
#14Years ago, there was a man who would stand on Market St. wearing a suit and just kind of dance back and forth singing "Gotta keep smiling". It wasn't a song as such, just a refrain that he would roll around over and over, and he would shuffle and sing and point at passersby and smile, encouraging them to smile.
One day my dad stopped and asked him, "You seem sane and well-educated, why do you do this?" (I'm paraphrasing here.) The man told him, "Sir, I make a hundred dollars a day, tax-free."
(My dad saluted him and walked on.)
Re: My Experience Busking in San Francisco
#15Here is a video of Joshua Bell (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joshua_Bell) playing a 3.5 million dollar violin in the subway for 45 minutes and making $32:
Re: My Experience Busking in San Francisco
#16The earnings surprised me. I know a decent software engineer whose effective hourly rate is embarrassingly close to the lower limit of Steve’s reported $15–50 range. On the other hand, that’s busking in SF.
Steve here. Thanks for reading! Those earnings are certainly not sustainable over eight hours in a day, nor over every day of the week. But they are attainable in strategically timed bursts. Some earnings are also skewed by a very few who donate $20.
Re: My Experience Busking in San Francisco
#17Just sent a week in SF staying on Union Square loving the trumpeter who played every night. Amazing tone, clearly a professional.
Re: My Experience Busking in San Francisco
#18The earnings surprised me. I know a decent software engineer whose effective hourly rate is embarrassingly close to the lower limit of Steve’s reported $15–50 range. On the other hand, that’s busking in SF.
Steve here. Thanks for reading! Those earnings are certainly not sustainable over eight hours in a day, nor over every day of the week. But they are attainable in strategically timed bursts. Some earnings are also skewed by a very few who donate $20.
Thank you for sharing your experience!
Doubly interesting to me since I’m thinking of performing as well.
The kind of performance I’m considering, though, would be of a more obscure style and requiring some electronic gear (worth $xxxx), so I’d probably go for a collaboration with a friend at least to have a sense of safety.
Regarding eight hours a day, as a software engineer most days I personally pull off about 5 hours of actual focus tops, though maybe that’s just me.
Re: My Experience Busking in San Francisco
#19From the article:
While I'm playing, I'll routinely see a policeman ask a person sleeping on the ground to sit upright. I'm not sure if that's because of the civil sidewalks ordinance or to "prevent obstructions".
I don't know about San Francisco specifically, but in some cities police forces use this sort of instruction to identify people who need medical assistance: If you're able to respond to the police, you're probably fine, but if you just lay there then you're probably incapacitated by alcohol, drugs, or some other medical condition.
Re: My Experience Busking in San Francisco
#20I used to busk with a friend on NYC subways. We each made $100 a day for 6 hours of singing consistently.
How much did your singing improve?