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How many official street performers (musicians, buskers etc..) are in the world, and in the main cities NY, London, Paris etc
Hello! Thanks for your question about street performers. Unfortunately, busking is not commonly regulated. There are, however, several busker-formed organizations that help encourage and protect street buskers, often providing a registry. Below you will find a deep dive of my findings.
METHODOLOGY
Cities that actively track and monitor street performers rarely provide numbers of permits issued. The only reliable sources of figures were the busker-formed groups.
Since there are extremely few locations in the world that actively regulate street performers, I searched several busker-created registries and coalitions. These organizations were formed to help separate buskers from street hustlers, to help potential clients and performers find each other with ease, and to advocate for and support these artists. According to The Busking Project, "We exist to promote, celebrate and defend buskers with tech, advocacy, research and opportunities."
THE NUMBERS
Most city/state/national permit registries do not provide numbers. Nor do most of the busker-formed organizations. As such, any estimate is going to be extremely rough.
Using tourist numbers provided by the Mastercard Global Destination Cities Index via World Atlas, I chose the most popular destinations to gather busker numbers for.
The Busking Project, the only international group with a searchable registry for all types of street performers, has 4084 buskers registered globally, with 154 in NYC, 302 in London, 26 in Paris, 18 in Kuala Lumpur, 33 in Delhi, 19 in Singapore, 7 in Bangkok, and 1 in Dubai.
Busk in London, an extension of London Underground, has around 1300 performers registered for the greater London area.
As London is the most active in tracking buskers, I used the London numbers to do a rough estimate for street performers worldwide. Combining the 300 registered on the Busking Project and the 1300 registered via Busk in London, we get 1600. Using the most popular tourist destinations compiled by Mastercard Global Destination Cities Index for the top 20 cities combined with the top busking cities in the world, this gives us 25 major busking locations in the world. If we assume each has around 1600 professional buskers, that would give us 40,000 "official" buskers.
BUSKING CONTACTS
According to rumours, the snake charmers in Marrakech are run like a mafia, and are unfriendly to outsiders. This may be true in other locations, particularly as there seems to be only one registered street performer in Morocco despite having some of the world's best street performer scenes. As such, it might be wise to begin contacts with communities willing to register with an organization in order to avoid unsafe situations.
Global Registries
London
London, UK is the only major location that actively regulates buskers, has the most active busking community on The Busking Project, and is also one of the most friendly to street performers. The most efficient way to contact buskers there appears to be via the London Underground Busking Scheme.
Other contacts:
CONCLUSION
To wrap it up, there is an estimated 40,000 professional buskers/street performers globally. With a lack of centralization or realistic tracking, the best way to approach them is through their own organizations.
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