I have busked much of north America and parts of Europe, even morocco--it wasn't very good, but I tried.

I am of two minds about the licences. they are poping up all over Canada and they do harm the travelling busker--which used to be part of the tradition and the real lifestyle of a busker. ilived in a van several times in my life and travelled around playing wherever looked promising. hwoever I am getting old and have mobility problems. a licence protects me from the young toughs now..

I had a licence in Toronto for over a decade. the licence was a god send to keep the bullying anglo away. sorry , but the ontario born anglos expect and demand special treatment and preferential spots. that's just the way it is. but most of the really aggressive can't get a licence because they can't pass the audition, and if they get past the audition they usually get in too many fights and get kicked out.

so as a partially handicapped person the licence was a real protection when I couldn't walk well and couldn't easily defend myself.

don't get me wrong, the public in Toronto are fantastic to buskers. it's a great place to play. the trouble comes from other musicians and mostly Ontario born anglo musicians. there is areal residue of the british empire in Toronto, more than england in many ways> they created a buskers ttc union and kicked oujt buskers who weren't anglo but wanted to discuss the threats and violence against other musicians--really screwy(the busker union organizers were all Toronto anglos)

however the down side is the longer licences exist the more jerk off bureaucrats create rules to regulate the busking-- and often ruin it. ttc gave in to socan to collect socan royalities for busking spots. the legistation and regulations probably do not cover busking but they agve in and thus they eliminate half the legal spots to afford to pay socan. to collect twenty five thousand a year socan eliminated spots that would make working musicians two to three hundred thousand a year==spread among a hundred or more regular musicians(legal and illegal). it's a travesty.

hwoever I still buck part time. local markets and other promising spots. I'm old and grey, I get pity mony now on top of skill money. the youngest and oldest buskers get extra money for their particular infirmities.