Ive busked in Ireland, England, Cananda and the US. Ireland in the seventies was great, once made over 3 hundred quid at race week in Listowl, playing the pipes at the race course, back then, you would see the Fury Bros. busking in Tralee, even after they were a big hit. England was a dangerous place to busk, it is not a society which tolerates much in the way of stepping out from the social order. Canada, Quebec used to be great. Now, like New York, there is an on going crack down, where one needs a licence in both Montreal and Quebec, for which you must audition, so out of town buskers passing through are not welcome, nor are young kids using their traditional culture to make a little gelt cant do it as they dont pass the audition. So, it is no surprise that we have seen the death of Quebecouis fiddling on such islands as Isle au Coudre, because a lot of young kids grow to love their culture while trying to make a buck off it. Busking is one of the great teachers of style, as it provides the busker with an immidiate evaluation of his or her perfomance, well, that is enough from me... still busking in New York,

Larry Otway,
Uilleann piper of the band Sorcha Dorcha.
PS as the city governments give the impression that it is a form of begging, through government control, the money get worse as well...