The Vancouver Commons - Podcast Episode 1
Have you found yourself listening to a really good busker and wishing there was some way, more than just tossing a loonie, to show your appreciation? Well Karen Fung has and it led her to conceive of Busker Idol.
“Busker Idol encourages crowds to participate, Ã la American Idol, to vote for the best buskers in a variety of categories.” What’s more, Karen envisions a highly interactive system that lets street performers share their creations and build a fan base directly. In this way, we, the public, gain a more direct role in promoting art in Vancouver.
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Credits: This episode was made using Creative Commons media. Bumper: “Songs of Triumph” by scottaltham, Ocean waves crashing by Luftrum, Urban herring gulls by acclivity, Road construction by Heigh-hoo, Episode: Market / busker sounds by vedas
I am a man on a mission to create a world that I will be proud to pass on to my son. I use every tool at my disposal toward this task: words, images, technology, education, relationships. We must act now because the need is great! 
I think the idea is not good – why make it a contest? Buskers are all friends with one another, they are like a family, seeing each other every day, helping each other. Why pit them against one another?!
MSG TV did a “buskers Idol” reality TV show. ALL the buskers on this show said the same thing: they don’t want to compete against one another.
Also:
Most buskers I know (and I know many)have a website and MySpace, they sell their music as CDs and downloads – why is this project presenting buskers as technically challenged?
See Karen’s detailed response to Michelle’s comment:
http://www.countablyinfinite.ca/2009/03/refining-the-concept-of-busker-idol/
interesting…skytrain is charged SoCan fees for the buskers!
Yeah, I was surprised by that too. I imagine too that the songs they are covering are from well known artists. I would really like to hear more original music.
I heard a Busker on Granville Island this week sing his heart out to the pigeons. The whole idea of busking, I thought, was to take art to the streets without any externally imposed framework. The spirit of busking is independence, no?
One of the points that Karen makes is that individuals busk for a variety of reasons, one of which may be the experience of freedom and independence but I can imagine convenience and necessity being equally alluring factors. Regardless, Busker Idol doesn’t impose anything – it offers a fun new way of interacting but any busker is equally free to not participate.