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When a busker is bounced

Carmen reports the cop didn't seem very happy about it, but he still ran a busker out of the South Station T stop last night for not having a permit - and that really annoyed all the people who'd been listening to him:

... One woman thought it was all her fault, that she had brought attention to the busker by asking him to play a song for her. She had been singing along when the mean cop came along. "I feel terrible," she said. "I've been working up my courage for weeks just to ask him to play that song for me."

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Comments

When I used to work on Congress St in South Boston, I used to want to get a busker's permit from the MBTA for the Courthouse station on the Silver Line. (maybe just a couple of times a month head into the city a bit early, play for a bit before heading to the office, or hang around there at the end of the day)The station is remarkably empty, but I'm not a remarkably talented guitarist either. I figured if anyone asked, I'd say that I wanted to stake out my spot early and was depending growth.

There are currently no valid busker spots for the Silver Line (according to http://www.mbta.com/business_center/subway_perform...) but I assume that is because the policy pre-dates the opening of the silver line.

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Because the Asian woman who plays at Park Street (and sometimes Porter Square), doing cringeworthily unintelligible covers of Elvis songs on an out-of-tune guitar, is really bad.

What are the requirements for a permit? More importantly, how often is the retest? I think it should be every year, for the safety of the commuting public. There are kids on those trains.

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As far as I know, there is no expiration, nor are there any requirements besides proof of residency. (there are restrictions on what is allowed even with the permit. No trumpets, no drums, etc.) The permit basically seems to be so that they know who you are, so they can go after you if you cause a problem.

If you want to stop the bad Elvis covers, I'd suggest you talk to ASCAP, and have them go after the musician for performance royalties. (if ASCAP and BMI have the time and energy to shake down every tiny little bar with live music on the weekends, I'm sure they can go after the buskers too.)

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