Joybell, my (albeit long-ago) experience showed that solo busking paid much better for me in one city than in another. In other words, it did NOT always necessarily pay as well as group performance. (See above, July 19 just before noon). I'll concede that you can always make some kind of a mark as a soloist, and of course you don't have to split the take, but in *some* environments, you might not be able to compete effectively with other buskers working in ensembles.

I think that a group is inherently more interesting to the passerby than a soloist, not only because of the increased volume and visual presense, but also because of the interaction between the players. Even as a former street soloist myself, I generally enjoy hearing and seeing a band on the street (brass band, jug band, bluegrass band, etc.) more than I do than the average lone singer/guitarist. A solo performer has to be *good,* or at least interesting in some way, to hold my attention, while a group (even a duo) almost always commands some attention just by being out there interacting with each other.

If you're working solo, you have to create personal interaction by making contact (eye contact plus whatever else you can do to forge a connection) with every person who comes along showing the least bit of interest in your endeavor.

Be prepared to deal with requests. You can't possibly know every song anyone is liable to ask for, but try to have something prepared in every general category you can think of. When I was in the streets every day back in the early 70s, for example, I was not especially conversant or even interested in country music, but I made sure to have a couple of tunes each from the repertoires of Merle Haggard, Hank Williams, and Jimmy Rodgers, as well as Jim Reeves' "He'll Have to Go" (a great one!). When someone requested a country tune I didn't know, I could respond, "I don't know that one, but how about this?" I tried to have an acceptable substitute for anything I was likely be asked for -- something representative of every popular genre and/or performer I could think of. Usually got me by.

Incidentally:

One of my favorite street performers of recent years here in New Orleans is a young black guy who sings Sam Cooke's Greatest Hits, apparently a capella. After seeing him a few times, I realized that he is singing along with a tape though headphones, inaudible to everyone but himself. Since I own the same album myself, I soon realized I could always predict which song he would do next.

Although this might seem like "cheating" in some way, I like the guy's act. He is an excellent singer -- after all, aspiring to emulate the great Sam Cooke is an admirable goal, and he does measure up -- and the timing (number of beats of rest between lines and between verses, etc.,) is impeccable, of course -- much moreso that most truly a capella efforts could manage. Most importantly, I believe, is the fact that he sings directly *to* almost every person who approaches him; if you give him any chance at all, if you let him catch your eye for even a fleeting second, he's locked in and pouring his heart and voice directly into your face. Impossible to ignore and quite effective.