Keep Streets Live - Victory.. of sorts!

Following on from my previous (here and here) posts it has been announced today that controversial Liverpool City Council policy to charge buskers to pay and regulate when and where they can play has been thrown out.

Although they don't admit it i'm pretty sure this has quite a bit to do with the KEEP STREETS LIVE campaign which achieved over 5000 signatures to support it.

Councillor Steve Munby admitted: “The policy wasn't thought through properly and we ought to have realised at the time. “Many of the regulations as they stood, were unenforceable. We had no team in place, no officers to go around checking people. I hold my hands up and admit that on this occasion, we got it wrong.” 

But he refused to admit defeat: "I haven't seen a busking community behind it, just one or two very loud voices."

I don't think it has occurred to Cllr Munby that one or two voices can speak for many.  Saying that, it's hard to believe that any politician thinks that they speak for anybody but themselves.

See their report from this years Wash Out Mathew Street Festival.

Keep Streets Live - Church Street Mass Busk 2

Following on from yesterdays post I took myself down into the city centre to witness the 'Keep Streets Live' mass busk.

It was a great turnout with a diverse group of musicians and instruments, guitars, violins, drums a trumpet and a digeridoo... one percussionist even began drubbing a beat on the street furniture.

Remember, please sign this petition: http://keepstreetslive.com/

One notable absence was the groups of eastern European musicians who can often be heard with trumpets and accordions.  Perhaps they were not aware of this new legislation?

If it wasn't for the Keep Streets Live campaign I wouldn't know about the full scope of this legislation.  Although it has been announced in the Echo and other news sources I was not aware that the legislation would also effect non-musician street performances such as street art (see the painting below) and the chap with the little owl.  The council has said very little has been said about these types of street performance.

In between songs, the musicians would give their opinions on the forthcoming legislation and one comment in particular struck me: 'It's our city, not theirs.'


As I hope the image above shows, the crowd that gathered was a great mix of young and old.  It was so typically representative of Liverpool.  Old guys stumbling from the Beehive to the Blob Shop stopped to roll a fag and enjoy an acoustic version of Jessie J's 'Price Tag' then a few minutes later a group of tweenagers start tapping their feet to 1920s classic 'Minnie the Moocher'.

Each one of those people stopped of their own free will to be entertained. If they didn't like the music, they simply walked away.

It was music by all sorts of people for all sorts of people.  They were not asked to be there, many didn't know just why they were there... but they stayed.


Meanwhile, a hundred yards away River Island was still blasting out its speakers.

Remember, please sign this petition: http://keepstreetslive.com/

Keep Streets Live - Mass Busk in Liverpool

As I posted a few months ago, Liverpool City Council are proposing a license in order for people to busk.  (See here: http://beneaththebeat.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/beat-of-street.html)

These new rules are deemed by most buskers to be overtly restrictive and a threat against the spontaneity and vitality of street performance.

To that end the  KEEP STREETS LIVE campaign has been petitioning the council to re-think their decision.

Sign the petiton HERE.

Furthermore they will be promoting a MASS BUSK in an unofficial launch party for this new legislation.  The Busk will be in Liverpool City Centre today at 12pm.

See you there.

The Beat of the Street

This blog aims to be about the more obscure, uncelebrated and forgotten music history of Liverpool.

There is no aspect of music history more forgotten and uncelebrated than the art of busking.  It's one of the oldest types of performance, from the moment a cave man first picked up a bone-flute there was probably a crowd around him throwing brightly coloured stones at his feet.

The sheer amount and quality of buskers in Liverpool at the moment is staggering, from the top of Bold Street to bottom of Lord Street - less than a mile there were about 10 of them.

A musical mile. 17th March 2012. Liverpool

It is claimed by the council that this is too many.  There are plans afoot to start charging buskers for one of 25 slots in the city centre.  Charges should be around £20 per anum.  Is this needed regulation, or simply a cynical money spinner for the cash-strapped council?

My worry is that with only a limited number of pitches there will be very tight competition and newer artists may never get the permit to perform.

Some of the proposed busking spots?  Are there enough?

They've always lived in a strange nether-world between professional and amateur, some buskers make a living through selling high-quality CDs from the pavement, others are barely able to hold a guitar.  Buskers in all their varied mixes give a colour and depth to a street that would otherwise be missing.  Let's hope this charging scheme doesn't affect it too much.

Thank god they're still here!