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2010/19: Should city buskers have to audition and have other restrictions placed upon them?
Introduction to the media issue
Video clip at right: a Student Youth Network reporter interviews Melbourne's lord mayor Robert Doyle, while gathering some opinions from shoppers about the quality of Melbourne's buskers.
If you cannot see this clip, it will be because video is blocked by your network. To view the clip, access from home or from a public library, or from another network which allows viewing of video clips.
What they said...
'These are our streets. You can't just set up an amplifier, grab a microphone and warble away at the top of your voice'
The Lord Mayor of Melbourne, Robert Doyle
'Melbourne's buskers are a cultural institution in this city. To lose the colour and sense of culture which they bring to Melbourne's streets would be nothing short of a tragedy'
Emma Woodall commenting in Beat Magazine
The issue at a glance
On September 7, 2010, the Melbourne City Council voted to review street activity in Melbourne. The review is to cover a range of activities including busking, street kiosks, collecting for charities and horse-drawn carriages.
The Council was presented with a Draft Street Activity Policy 2010 which includes proposals to require buskers to audition and to limit amplified busking to certain hours of the days and particular locations. Other proposed regulations relate to stallholders, spruikers, pamphlet distribution, fundraising and horse-drawn vehicles.
Interested parties have been invited to respond to the draft proposals by October 23, 2010.
Although there have previously been complaints about buskers as noise pollution, the new proposals to audition buskers and require them to pay an annual fee have met with opposition from both musicians and some Melbournians.
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