Chapter two-The Perks of Busking!

In chapter one of “ The Perks of Busking” we left you in the beautiful city of Prague, in the recording studio of one of the Cities leading musicians. We were pondering the outcome of one of my fans desire to get her hands on some of my music and how to promote George from Prague’s music around the rest of the world.

My time in that studio turned out to be one of the most fortuitous sessions of my performance career – it amped my confidence, confirmed my calling and encouraged me to push through some ‘roadblocks’ that were holding me back… and all this happened because I was busking.   Six songs later, I waved goodbye, smiling from ear to ear, cassette tapes in hand, knowing that everyone – was very happy with the results.

Those tapes wore thin as I played them constantly on my travels, both my recordings and Georges. Then tragedy struck when I was robbed in Amsterdam and all but one of George’s songs disappeared from my collection.  His music was gone, along with all his contact details. Miraculously, one song stayed with me through thick and thin.  It survived years of travels and address changes before a recording engineer friend put George’s remaining song onto CD, then DAT and finally onto hard drive.  15 years later… the song is still with me and even though it sounds a little rough – scratchy, like an old vinyl recording, it does have a unique rustic charm that seems to match the story.

The weird thing is…  who would have thought, 15 years later – when  working on a video for my charity – www.TreeLovers.org.au  which encourages people all over the world to adopt an Aussie tree to help environmental education, reforestation and global cooling, I realised that the missing ingredient was a powerful and emotive piece of music to back the visual story.  George’s song came to mind.  At last I had found a way to promote his music in the west!

So who would have thought that my busk on the Charles Bridge would have led to free studio time and a 6 track recording which gave me a product to sell on the street and scored me many gigs – even an interview and live performance on Irish TV.  And who would have thought that my busking and tree planting endeavours would help me accomplish George’s lifelong dream.  And who would’ve thought that I would fulfil his request a decade or so later and find myself trying to track down Prague’s very own Nick Cave ( at least in attitude and appearance) – to show him that his dream for international recognition was coming true.

Surely in this era of instant global connections and videos that go viral, somebody out there will help me reunite with this incredible musician.  I’m putting our TreeLovers video – with music by George from Prague – out into cyberspace in the hope that it will ‘get around’ quickly and someone will recognise the song and lead me back to George. And if many trees get adopted in the process, then I’ll be one very happy chappy! If you click on the Treelovers link below it should take you straight to the Treelovers website and the video with Georges wonderful music behind it.

treelovers.org.auSimilar Posts:

• The Perks of Busking – Chapter One

The Perks of Busking! Chapter One.

I thought I’d share a busking story that not only has a few gold nuggets (excellent tips) in between the lines, plus a weird ending that could become an irresistible challenge for you, but it also confirms that there are some amazing perks that come from street performance which are rarely talked about or promoted.

It all starts in one of Europe’s most intriguing cities – Prague.  Mysterious and pretty, cold, yet inviting.  On the stunning Charles Bridge, known by the locals as ‘Karoloy Most’ is one of the most sensational busking locations I have had the pleasure to perform at.  This place provided the backdrop for another busking adventure which proved yet again, that buskers can find themselves in the most fortunate of situations. I guess it’s the payoff from having the guts to ‘put ourselves out there’.

So here I was busking on the Charles Bridge in Prague, when a woman came up to me and demanded to buy my music. Yes… demanded!  I was thrilled to meet such an enthusiastic fan, but soon discovered that this woman was quick to develop an obsessive compulsive Johnnie Mac disorder (let’s not go there right now!)  At this point in my career, I had no music to sell – which didn’t please her at all and it didn’t matter how much I tried to explain, this determined woman wanted my music. She came back a couple of days later and insisted that I help her find someone to record my songs.

Now because I had been unforgivingly slack about recording my music this far, I simply wasn’t going to knock back a sponsored recording session, so I went along for the ride. I watched as she called a long list of musician friends. And just as she was about to give up the game, another lady who was waiting to use the phone, overheard the story and instantly got involved.  She said her boyfriend was one of the most respected musicians in Prague and that he would be happy to record my songs.

George was a tall, skinny, pony-tailed dude with dark, Nick Cave like features and demeanour. He lived and breathed music every waking hour and had performed with the biggest names in Prague. His house was beautifully set up as a studio, rehearsal space and instrument museum.   I played him some of my songs and he listened expressionless. Finally, his poker face gave way to an enormous smile as he announced that he’d be honoured to record my songs.  But, could I return him one favour  “ I would like for you Johnnie to be promoting my music in the west”.  He then played the most incredible piece of music.  All instruments were played by George and the music was composed and arranged by him as well. “Of course I’ll help promote your music in the west – I love it! ”.

Well you’ll have to wait for chapter two of ‘The Perks of Busking’ in a few days to find out what happened in Prague that month but for now here’s another video of a song I wrote recently ( sorry this will be posted asap ) – inspired by busking in the magical city of Prague.Similar Posts:

• The Perks of Busking-Chapter Two

Here’s your opportunity to get 2 lots of income from 1 busk!

I’ve had 2 calls this week from large corporations looking for buskers!  And they want to pay them!

It seems that more and more people are realising that street performers can enhance any atmosphere and the corporates are now getting in on the act!  This kind of ‘street promo’ has been happening in Europe for quite some time (which I talk about in my ebook) – in fact it’s the reason busking originated and now the trend seems to be coming back again… which is great news for buskers!

The first call I received was from a major football club (whose name I cannot reveal just yet) who called to ask what they needed to do to employ buskers to play along the streets that lead their supporters from the train station to the sports ground.  They want buskers to create a vibe before the game!  And by the way… this could be a great idea to present to other football clubs in your area – if you wanna get proactive about increasing your income that is.

A few days later, I got another call from an advertising agency who want to pay buskers to create a buzz for the launch of their new ‘rocket fast’ broadband product.  There was a request for the buskers to sing a few ‘rocket’ songs in amongst their repertoire  (I guess that would be songs like ‘Rocket Man’ by Elton John, ‘Curbside Prophet’ by Jason Mraz, etc, etc, etc.)

They want to select 5 buskers who can sing and play guitar (or any other instrument), to perform at various points around the Melbourne CBD on Mon 30th November and Tues 1st December.

If you live in, or close to Melbourne, Australia (or need an excuse to visit that amazing city) then here’s your opportunity for  you to busk in some prime city locations for a set fee and have the bonus of keeping your hat out as well.

That’s guaranteed double income – surely an offer to good to refuse!

If you’re interested, the next step is to shoot me an email before this Wednesday, 11th November so these guys can look you up and book you in.

So, if getting 2 lots of income from 1 busk in Melbourne excites you, then get back to me at admin ‘at’ buskerworld ‘dot’ com asap!

Cheers
Johnnie MacSimilar Posts:

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Recently a number of Buskerworld fans have sent me some pretty alarming stories about being harassed by people who dominate profitable busking pitches and threaten street performers who dare to move in on “their” territory. Obviously this is totally outta line and should be bought to the notice of any council or authority who has control over that community sector. Not everyone enjoys having to get a busking licence however one of its benefits is that it enables the authorities to keep an eye on what is going on and keep a reasonably level playing field for all of us who love to perform on the street.

The following excerpt is taken from my busking book and lets you in on what my experiences have been with this subject. I would love to hear more stories from buskers out there about this annoying….“Ring of Fire”

Understanding The Busking Mafia

There are certain places where street performance is very competitive or the hot spot is so HOT, that the allocation of busking time has been taken over by an unofficial authority (to put it nicely) who usually demand a fee for allowing you to busk there.

My Experience: Busking in Amsterdam is very competitive which left me with a few obstacles to overcome before I could start performing at popular busking hot spots. I was keen to busk in a particular museum that had an incredible acoustic atmosphere and lots of pedestrian traffic, due to tourist popularity. I attempted to follow busker etiquette without success on a number of occasions. I was baffled by the same answer each busker gave me – “someone had already asked to go next and that I should be quicker”. I tried different strategies and still received the same answer. As I was a particularly determined busker, I decided to hang around, watch closely and ask the new busker if I could perform next.

My newly devised fail proof strategy meant that I would know if anyone else had asked before me, yet I received the same answer “I should be quicker, someone else had already asked”. I replied that this was not possible as he had only just arrived and I was the first to ask to perform after him. Reluctantly and somewhat nervously (looking around as if he was expecting someone) he agreed to follow busker etiquette and allowed me to perform next. At last, I had scored my classic pitch but there was something about the experience that didn’t make sense. I was intrigued and wanted to solve this mystery as other buskers had told me of similar experiences with other hot spots in the area.

All too soon everything became much clearer when an angry ‘performer’ interrupted me and said he was due to start busking now. I told him what had occurred and advised him that I had secured this spot fairly. His anger flared and he threatened to bring the mob around if I insisted on staying. He told me that this was a protected pitch that was controlled by his network and only certain people (those who paid him a percentage) could perform here. Of course I wasn’t one of them.

I remained calm and simply repeated what had happened, adding that some more of my friends were also going to play here, but he was free to go next and I’d see him in an hour. He didn’t come back, so I continued to busk for a few hours before finally handing the pitch over to the next performer, someone who had no knowledge or connection with the controlled network. Normally, I wouldn’t have taken such a risk but persistence and blind stupidity kept me determined and thankfully my audacity paid off. I later found out that I had broken the controlled cycle in that location. I returned to that very special busking location a number of times and played successfully without incident and each time I played, not only did I receive encouraging support from the public but also from many other buskers who had also wanted to perform in that location but had been warned off by the ‘busking mafia’ that had controlled such a fantastic busking hot spot for way too long!

Now I realize that this is probably not the best way to solve this dilemma and is of course a somewhat risky approach. It just isn’t worth your life or perhaps fingers (some of the threats aimed at me that day) however I was young, naive and rebellious back then. These days when this problem occurs I take the issue up with the local council or governing authority and have someone else take on the busking mafia.

It’s just an annoying obstacle that some street performers have to overcome because there are always street performers who don’t care about following busking etiquette and unfortunately, you just have to work with this. My tip here comes from what has worked for me. I‘ve found that, if someone is dominating a pitch and you can’t be bothered with fighting it, then why not take the approach of scouting around for a better spot that no one has thought of or tried out.

From my experience I know you’ll be totally surprised with what you may find. Look forward to hearing from anyone out there with any experiences related to this subject. We would be happy to post anything that can help all street performers.

Cheers

Johnnie MacSimilar Posts:

• Is There a Busker Etiquette?

As most of you know, I recently ran my first 3 day workshop to help independent musicians learn how to use the power of technology to move forward with their careers rather than waiting to be ‘discovered’.

The most inspiring experience from workshop, was having a few BuskerWorld members in the audience – one guy flew from interstate to attend.

So the first thing I noticed was that the buskers were the first to create atmosphere in the room. Jason Temple asked a question shortly after we started and threw in a joke as well. Instantly the room relaxed, he broke the ice and from that moment on we all felt comfortable. Thanks Jason!

Then it was the buskers who put their hands up first for any challenge. We discovered that it was the buskers who were staying in the ritzy hotels just down the road. The buskers were quick to take part in anything that was going to move their careers forward… whilst the others um’d and ah’d, there was no hesitation from the buskers.

It was the incredible Stanmore Pheonix, busker extraordinaire who came and asked me to play his music video during the breaks and here’s what we watched…

WOW! Everyone in the room was more than impressed to say the least. By the end of the 3 days, the buskers stood out as the most outgoing, most persistent, most inquisitive and most willing to take the biggest risks. These guys totally blew me away!

Then to top it all off, all of them joined my inner circle coaching program and will be working closely with me for the next 12 months. We’ve been having lots of fun nutting out some new concepts and ideas and I’m excited with what these guys are going to achieve. Watch this space for updates on their success stories.

So you might have noticed that the RISE workshop in July was supposed to be the only one on the Gold Coast (Australia) for 2009. However, since then we’ve received a flood of phone calls and countless emails asking “will there be another Gold Coast workshop this year?”  I’ve gotta say, it’s really inspiring to know that there are many muso’s (much more than expected), who want to learn how to take control of their indie music careers.

So I’ve given in!  I’m pleased to let you know that the final Gold Coast 2009 “RISE” 3 Day Workshop will be held on 9-11 October – at the same venue – Quality Hotel in Mermaid Waters. Unfortunately we have a limit on numbers in the room and tickets are selling fast, so if you want to join me, then I strongly suggest to go check out the website for all the details.  Address is below.

There will be workshops in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth later this year, but if you live in Queensland then this is your last chance to learn how to take the reins or your music career and find out for yourself what all the buzz is about.

We will be putting 1 lucky musician on the hotseat again this time round and will also be having some inspiring guest speakers who will be sharing their music biz knowledge, experience and tips to help you make music your full time career

Check out www.MusicSuccessExplained.com for more info.

I’d LOVE to see more buskers again at the next one.

Cheers

Johnnie MacSimilar Posts:

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I’ve always had great success playing my own original songs and obscure covers that I love when busking. As a result, I have great interest in a topic of hot debate at times amongst street performers relating to which songs you could/should play when busking.

I’ve found that there are a number of very strong opinions from street performers and in busking literature stating what you should play when busking. Some of these, I would argue, could easily mislead and/or even discourage people from busking and I’ll be adding more to this debate in the near future.

But for now there is an important tip here that has been passed onto me by many successful buskers, musicians and other music industry buffs that states ”First the song”. By this they mean that if you don’t have a good original song written then you can have all the talent in the world and still find it difficult to get your music heard, or even earn a buck as an original songwriting busker. The song is everything unless you’re happy to imitate or play in covers bands.

I have witnessed many extremely talented musicians struggle to get their act to a level of success that allows them to keep performing because they have been unable to pen a powerful song. Often these musicians give up on original music and unfortunately we lose yet another great performer to a concept/covers band. That great song for other artists I knew was just around the corner. As they persisted with their song writing skills they eventually achieved success.

Australian singer songwriter, Paul Kelly is a classic example. His success was by no-means overnight, he had played in bands for at least a decade before he had a hit and could easily have given up at any time before he found success. Paul has gone on to become one of Australia’s greatest song writers.

I recently heard one of the big wigs of Sire Records comment on his signing of Punk band the Ramones. This came at a time when no one took the Ramones seriously. In fact they received a lot of criticism for their style and ability or as their critics would say “lack of ability”. In spite of this they were signed by Sire because… “they wrote great songs”. I don’t care whether you like the Ramones or not, music… like a piece of art, is always bigger than an individual’s subjective opinion.

The Ramones wrote great songs in the style and genre they played in!! The dude from Sire recognised this and knew he could find the market that would agree. Anyone care to argue with the statistics over the 30 year history or so that followed. (Check out the Ramones Movie). The important tip here for all buskers (and indeed any musicians) who aspire to performing original music on the street is to work on your song writing skills and never underestimate the power of the original song.

I’ll be focusing on the issue of “first the song” a bit more in another blog over the next few weeks but for now here are a few ways you can test if your songs are any good. Busking has played a major part in selecting my original compositions for recording and playing live on stage.

Many buskerworld fans enter into song writing competitions. This can be a useful endeavour if you have a healthy fan base or big mailing list who will vote for you. However, please don’t be offended if your good original song is rejected from one of these competitions. It’s more about your marketing ability (i.e. how to use your list/fans) than the quality of your song. This may seem a bit cynical but it’s a harsh reality of the music industry. It doesn’t mean good songs don’t win but it often means that there are better songs that don’t get heard or have an even chance of winning.

I use to play my songs to my mum and she’d always say “Oh that’s lovely dear” (even for my uglier aggressive songs) but she loved anything I did so it wasn’t quite the right test. Playing your songs to friends who you know are critical or selective of the music they like is a far better indication of where your song stands. Hopefully they won’t be too hard on you but at least you will get some honest and constructive feedback.

For the sensitive and those of you who don’t respond well to criticism of your original songs then performing your songs on the street is a great way to ease your songs out into the public eye. Firstly in this day and age people won’t notice they’re your songs. If people don’t like your songs in this environment then you’ll just go home with a bit less cash. If you play your songs on the street, watch for public reaction. Busking is a brilliant way of testing the power of your songs. Often you’ll receive a good tip for a good song. The fact that people have never heard it before and respond well to it is a great benchmark for a new song.

I remember singing one of my songs (The Colours of her Mind) once in a train tunnel in Amsterdam. A guy came past and put 5 Euros in and walked away, suddenly he turned and came back and put another 10 in and said “that’s a beautiful song, I think you deserve more than what I first gave you”. This wasn’t the only time this happened with this song and other songs I’ve written. This song had to be on my next CD and it gave me the courage to sing it more often to friends who also commented positively about it.

Submitting your songs to various websites that review them (check out tracktesting.com) or have fans offer feedback on them is a great way to test your material. Also getting feedback from social network sites is really important. However this needs to be done in a way that you know you’re getting feedback from people who like your style of music.

There’s not much point sending your country flavoured songs out to a heavy metal fan base expecting to get good reviews. This may seem obvious but it is the ad-hoc way many artists currently operate.

I see a lot of musicians targeting the wrong market with their music. Many musicians just send songs out blindly in the hope that the right people/market will find them. The “message to market match” is an old yet powerful adage that all musicians and buskers should adhere to.

Recently, we have been showing musicians how to find their market and then start to manage their songs and social networking sites with a great deal more success. I’ll be including more on this subject next week and the information I will reveal will greatly assist original independent artists and buskers with an online presence.

So what gives me the right to rave about the power of the song. Well I’ve had 2 of my songs in the spotlight again after my recent chart topping success, this time getting scores of rave reviews for my hard hitting songs The Chant Of Namatjira and Nicotine Dream (see a few examples below). Not only is this inspiring news for buskers but indeed provides great hope for all musicians who want to do things independently and write original music. It is also setting an example of how an independent original songwriter/musician can make a living in a day and age when everyone seems to be getting music for cheap or even free.

I’m putting these reviews in just to highlight what’s achievable for all of you out there. These reviews came via Djs and identities from Triple j radio station which is the leading youth and independent music station in Australia with a national distribution.

Triple j has the ability to reach all corners of the country and indeed some other parts of the globe. The great thing about getting a few good reviews is that it gives you confidence in your song writing and builds your credibility as an artist. If prominent leading Djs review your songs well other reviewers are going to want to hear them and add their opinion. We’ve recently had an offer from Billboard (USA) to review my album The World Seems Happy.

This is a rare thing for the USA to OFFER to review an AUSSIE artist. Most local artists here struggle to get recognition of any kind overseas so getting a few good local reviews can be a great step to gaining worldwide recognition and taking your art/music to the next level.

Cheers from Johnnie Mac

Similar Posts:

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Earlier this year, 3 of my songs made it to the top of Triple J’s Unearthed charts in Australia and I made no secret about the fact that I prompted this success.  A lot has happened following my chart topping victory, and even though I’ve had a lot of requests asking “where can I buy your album”, I was taken by surprise by the amount of emails I received asking how I did it. Considering I’m a busker and proud of it!, I don’t do stage gigs very often and I don’t have a record deal, many people – especially other street performers and independent musicians – now want to know the secrets to my success… how had I managed to move from street to worldwide recognition so easily.

Enter Michelle lovingly known as  ‘Mikey’ – my gorgeous missus and manager who has been working in the music industry since 1996.  Mikey started off her music biz career learning from Jeff Buckley and his crew and then moved on to study music management (where we first met), work for a record company, and then start her own business where she successfully managed bands – taking them from garage to national recognition and promoted Australian original music using her Australian Music website.  And even though the internet was in its infancy back then (1997), Mikey quickly discovered how to use the world wide web to replace the role of the record company.  All of a sudden artist management became a lot easier for her and success came faster than she could handle it.

That’s when I came onto the scene (1998) and slowed things down a little.  We fell madly in love and Mikey – being a wanderer at heart, jumped at the chance to start living a nomadic lifestyle once again.  We renovated a camper bus and travelled around Australia – busking, basking and making babies!  Along with the children came acerage and a new project that pulled us away from the music scene for a few years, yet all the while, Mikey never stopped getting requests to manage up-and-coming artists, work in A&R, or at least share her knowledge and I never stopped playing, busking and creating more music.

The time finally came when I finished recording my album and then expected my brilliant ‘manager/wife’ to do her thing with it.  You know… get it out there as only she knows how.

This is when Mikey rekindled her ‘relationship’ with the computer and started to discover how modern technology had suddenly opened up a whole new world of possibilities for musicians.  Her excitement was contagious, so we formed a team and together learnt that the internet was a goldmine for any indi musician who had a bit of drive to market their own music.

Finally, after years of research and experimenting, we have produced a step by step system that teaches musicians how to blast their name and their music worldwide – without a record company, without a manager and without gigging your arse off AND whats even more exciting is that we’ve put together a 3 day workshop to teach anyone whose interested, exactly how to do it.

So if you’re still playing the ‘old school’ system of gigging continuously or pounding the pavements and waiting to be discovered – which is exactly what I once thought I needed to do to sell my album, then you may be interested knowing that there in a much quicker, easier and smarter way of doing things.  We’ve found a way to combine traditional music management systems together with modern technology – and you’ll be blown away with the results.

This is a great opportunity to meet face to face, hang out for a few days, exchange busking tips and stories with a bunch of other street performers as well as learn a heap of – surprisingly easy – online strategies that will help get your name and your music (or whatever artform you do) – out to a worldwide audience very quickly.

By the way, if you’re not  into being a rockstar – that’s ok – that makes 2 of us, but if you want to spend more time being creative and make more money from whatever your artform is, then this workshop will definitely show you exactly how to do that.

I hope to see you there

Johnnie Mac

Find out more at www.MusicSuccessExplained.comSimilar Posts:

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I didn’t know if I could (or even should) write this blog. Initially it all seemed to hard, to big, to painful, but after sitting alongside the freshly covered grave of my best friend and listening to what felt like a very clear message from his spirit, it became obvious to me that this is what he wanted me to do.  I soon realised it was also something I NEEDED to do.

So I decided to write this blog straight away before I changed my mind – just a couple of days after Adrian’s farewell ceremony and it helped my grieving process enormously.  I can’t find any other way of describing the courage I conjured up to do this, other than the way I felt when I did my first live gig.

Another thing that helped me put my thoughts onto paper was the hope that my words would somehow help others who may have gone through a similar experience. Maybe my words would linger in the minds of some and help those who may have to go through these kinds of painful emotions in the future. Sharing my vulnerable side would certainly help many readers get to know me a bit more. Or maybe it would help others to know there is a light at the end of the tunnel in times of hardship – and often the light appears when you reconnect with your passion.  My passion being music.

Just a short time ago, I received an email from a busker telling me about how she was finding it hard to get out and live again, to busk again after 3 people close to her had suddenly died. She felt like she had fallen into a hole and couldn’t find the inspiration to pick herself up and move forward again. I can relate to her story and empathise with her completely. Death is such a weird thing. Becoming so completely overcome with such great loss and sadness. Then it can get totally weird when people who were close to the person who passes away suddenly start behaving completely out of character. People start saying or doing hurtful things and start pointing the finger of blame all to quickly. It’s such an awkward time, but I guess we all grieve in different ways.

For me, I like to sing, it’s my way of getting through hard times (some call it singing the blues – even though punk blues are often more my style… the harder and faster I sing, the better I feel). But no matter how fast or slow, loud or soft, music can be incredibly healing and there are many songs that can help us understand difficult times and give us strength again to climb out of those dark holes.

The night before Adrian’s funeral, my wife told me “I’m just not ready to say goodbye yet, but the only thing that has helped me let go has been your song with the lyrics ‘This is only One Farewell’ which I keep singing over and over.  It’s the only thing that is helping me to let go”.  The vibe of this song and the lyrics comforted my wife and helped her find some strength.  I’m sure many people have had the same experience from certain songs be it for death, birth, love, etc. This is the mysterious and miraculous gift that music brings us.

Singing seems to clear the air for me and puts me in contact with the person I was close to. It helps if I can sing at their ceremony or celebration of life.  I sang for my mum at her funeral and it was one of the most memorable moments of my life. I sang Tim Buckley’s ‘Song to the Siren’. I only had time to learn it one day before the funeral and no matter how many times I played it, I just couldn’t get it right. So I gave in and decided not to play. My decision not to play was suddenly supported by some family members who thought that my style of ‘pop’ music wouldn’t be appropriate in a catholic church.

But deep down I really did want to do something special for my mum and my music was a gift she always appreciated from me. I also felt such a strong urge to express myself through song. Yet my family had given me the perfect excuse to remain in my darkness by saying that they didn’t want me to sing.

I finally recognised the inner conflict going on and realised that NOT playing just didn’t feel right. So, I asked myself “what would mum want? ” And I told my family that I was going to ask mum what she wanted! They thought I’d gone a bit loopy and took no notice. But this is what I do. To this day, in times of confusion I still call upon my father’s wisdom.

So I asked my mother and I got a very strong answer to sing! I then knew with all my heart that my mum wanted me to do this for her. Once I knew this, everything seemed to fall into place.  My family thought I was crazy, but couldn’t argue when I told them “mum wants me to play”.  Then a good friend appeared out of nowhere and decided to sing with me. Hearing my lack of confidence with a new song, she said “C’mon, think of all those difficult performances you’ve done out in all those far flung corners of the world and on stage in front of thousands of people… compared to that, you know this will be easy!”

She reminded me that this wasn’t about me, it was for my mother and that she’d want me to do it no matter how good or bad it sounded. “It doesn’t have to be perfect, it just has to be you, your gift for her”. Her message hit home and although I still couldn’t get the song right on the morning of the funeral, I still played and at the ceremony it all seemed so easy.  In fact, the song seemed to take on a life of its own and I was just the vehicle that brought it to life. After that day, my confidence grew tenfold knowing that I could celebrate the lives of those close to me with such a powerful gift. And it never ceases to amaze me how things pan out… as a result of this newfound confidence, I started getting requests to sing ‘special moment’ songs at weddings, engagements, parties, etc.

Since that incredibly powerful and memorable moment, that song has always carried a strong memory of my mum with it. It’s her song now.  And to this day, whenever I go out to perform I use that lesson to carry me out onto the stage where I give the audience a bit of the ‘real’ me. In fact, I give them a lot of the real me which will never be perfect, and from what my audiences keep telling me – that’s what makes every live performance so unique.

So when my dearest friend Adrian suddenly left us, I knew – without a shadow of doubt that I had to sing at his farewell.  I wanted to honour this incredible guy who encouraged everything I ever chose to do, no matter how big the dream. Adrian was a peaceful eco warrior, a wild mushroom expert and a walking encyclopaedia when it came to Australian native animals and plants. He was a pillar of support for me and my wife Michelle, as well as an uncle and teacher to my 4 children. He was always there for us whenever we needed to travel for work or go on tour or go out traversing from city to bush on busking adventures. He was the chief tree planter and decision maker for the environmental charity we managed together. Everyone needs an Adrian in their life and I always felt so blessed to have him in ours, long before he left and even more now that he’s gone. And even though he will be deeply missed, he has reinforced a message that is emerging in this blog… that is – to truly appreciate the value of life – and the value of who we are and what we bring to this world.

So often musicians and performers undervalue what they do and what they have to offer society. Uncannily, it seems that some of my darkest moments have helped me learn to value what I do as a performer. They have taught me to accept that I cannot please everyone, but I can, most definitely, bring some level of joy or happiness to those I love and those who love who I am and what I do.  It seems crazy that the loss of incredible people in my life has taught me that all I have to do is reach out to those who are supportive and I’ll automatically find success.

I mentioned earlier how my wife found comfort and strength from my song called ‘One Farewell’. It’s amazing how appropriate this song was for Adrian, so I thought I should share it with you.  One Farewell was recorded for my album and was performed at Adrian’s ceremony by myself and a local Aboriginal guy – Kyle Slabb, who played percussion and sang the message in his traditional Bundjalung language.  Adrian’s ashes were spread out over a forest where he had spent hours working to bring it back to life and amongst the native gardens that he planted.  As we sang, Adrian’s spirit was set free in a beautiful place that was so special to him. It was an incredible moment to play this very special acoustic version and again it came out easily in a wide open space, out in the forest.

I’ll be forever grateful to Adrian for his gift of friendship and for giving me the opportunity to continue my music career. I feel honoured that I could repay him with a gift that he helped me develop.

Cheers Adrian, you were an integral part of our family and one of the best mates anyone could ask for and it brings us all great comfort knowing that you are here, not only in spirit, but in song.

Here are the lyrics to One Farewell which you can hear and read more about at www.johnniemac.com

ONE FAREWELL
© April 1998
Lyrics by John McCarthy & Chris Driscoll, Music by Johnnie McCarthy
Bundjalung Lyrics by Kyle Slabb.

I hear in Spirit talking
The stories from your walking
All the stories you have sung to us
Are the ones that we will tell
And though you chose to leave us now,
Oh this, is only one farewell

Land that you have walked upon
Was never to be kept
Land cannot be stolen when anointed by the wept
Land that once was taken is sacred by the tears
And flags and boats in foreign lands….
Remembered in the years
As only one farewell
Oh this is only one farewell

Bundjalung walking, Bundjalung talking
[REPEAT X 3]

The stories you have sung to us
Are the ones that we will tell
This grieving from your leaving softens…. knowing
This is only one farewell

Fires burning, soul’s returning
You have left us with the learning
Fires burning, soul’s returning
You have left us with the learning
Oh fires burning, soul’s returning
You have left us with the learning
Oh fires burning, soul’s returning
You have left us with the learning

This is only one farewell
[REPEAT X 2]

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Great news… Buskers DO get famous!

If you’ve been to BuskerWorld’s ‘Famous Buskers’ webpage you will see that there are many popular performers who either started off as buskers or have dabbled with street performance during their career. This list is lengthy and I’ve only documented a few in comparison to the vast amount of buskers who have achieved fame.

One busker who is on the brink of fame is someone you may have heard of. He started out with people saying  “….you’re wasting your time!”, “….everyone wants to hear music they know – not original stuff!  …..  you sound too different to be appreciated!”, “….you won’t be taken seriously if you busk…”  blah, blah, blah, blah, blah!… destructive comments that could very easily have disheartened this fella’s aspirations.

But despite all the warnings, backlash and criticism, the rebellious musician took to the streets anyway. He discovered busking was a great adventure and spent years learning the tricks of the trade which resulted in a dream lifestyle of music 24/7, worldwide travel, fun, friends, freedom as well as plenty of money at the drop of a hat!

Is the story sounding familiar yet? You may have guessed by now that the rebel of this story is ‘yours truly’ and yes… if it wasn’t for busking, then I daresay this blog, this website and this latest success story would be non-existent.

So here’s what’s happened and as you’re reading, keep in mind – SUCCESS LEAVES CLUES! If you’re determined to ‘ramp up’ your performance career, then you’re welcome to copy my formula and you too could also be living a dream lifestyle and topping the charts.

At the end of 2008, I decided to play a band (stage) gig on my birthday for a bit of fun and as a pre-launch for my album. For convenience and loyalty reasons, I played at the Sphinx Rock Cafe – a small cafe at the end of my street in my very tiny hometown. Little did I know what would stem from that show… radio airplay, newspaper articles and curiosity from the public created a huge wave of interest. Many people started to look up my music at Australia’s popular ‘Unearthed’ website and downloaded and commented on my songs. ‘Unearthed’ is specifically for independent (unsigned) artists and is run by Australia’s only national youth radio station called Triple J. Currently there are 7000 artists/bands listed.

3 months later my song ‘Insecure’ has reached No.3 on the ‘Unearthed’ (mixed genre ) charts and No.1 on the rock charts. Unlike most charts, my positioning doesn’t relate to album sales, but is calculated according to mass public opinion (song reviews, downloads, plays, etc).

I’m obviously thrilled with the results so far, as any busker would be!

In saying that, if my song gets up to No.1 on the overall charts then I have a greater chance of getting national airplay. As you can imagine, having my song at No.3  feels like I’m one number short from winning lotto!

So if you’re a busking fan, music lover, love a story with a happy ending, or a fellow busker who would like to play a part in this success story, then … go ahead…. make my day!

Click the box below and download my songs or even better still, submit a short 1 or 2 word, sentence or even a paragraph commenting about my songs and it will definitely help my climb up to the No.1 position.  You need to register before you can review so they know you are a real person (otherwise everyone would be reviewing themselves!)… this only takes a few minutes.

The reason why I’m sharing this story with you is not to sing my own praises, but to remind you that busking is an excellent way to start or improve your stage career. As you know, I started off as a street performer and what you may not know is that I didn’t have much belief in myself. I built up my confidence by busking – call it the school of hard knocks. And now look what’s happened as a result… and to be honest all I was doing was having fun with my music, making some money and rehearsing my songs out on the streets where there are no expectations or boundaries… oh and by the way, getting inspiration to write songs (Insecure) that are now topping the charts!

So if you think your busking endeavours are only good enough to be a hobby or that it’s simply a temporary fix to help put a few coins in your pocket, then think again. As you can see from my story, busking has been an ideal launching pad and it could be the same for you. It all comes down to persistence as well as having a positive and professional attitude.

A huge THANKS to anyone who reviews my songs. Drop me a line to admin@buskerworld.com and let me know you’ve reviewed – I’ll happily reciprocate the favour!

Cheers

Johnnie MacSimilar Posts:

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At the end of 2008, I sent out an email to BuskerWorld members containing 2 exclusive gifts.

The first one was an invite to audition for America’s Got Talent after the casting director called me from the USA offering private auditions for our BuskerWorld members.

The second gift was a fun, money-spinning busking tip to help street performers steer clear of sidewalk competition, bring more enjoyment into their performance during the holiday season and help fill up that hole that suddenly appears in wallets during that time of year.
I must admit I was surprised with the response, to say the least!

I’m happy to say that everyone was thankful for the gifts, but I was shocked by the emails that followed telling me about why that tip wouldn’t work for them or that they weren’t good enough to audition for America’s Got Talent.

I had to ask… did anyone actually get out there and give it a go before finding hundreds of reasons why it wouldn’t work??? Thankfully there were a few who tried which restored my faith and commitment to BuskerWorld, but mostly there were excuses galore and then I even received a newspaper article from a member about how buskers were destined to crash due to the economic situation.

Doom and gloom prevailed!!

Whoa!… I found myself shaking my head in disbelief many times and questioning my outlook. Why were the majority of buskers presuming the worst? Are buskers getting pissed off with my success stories because they experience a different reality? Should I be counselling buskers to believe in themselves instead of offering positive tips and advice? Should I be empathizing with buskers instead of setting a positive example? Should I be buying into the doom and gloom instead of encouraging others to create their own reality as I, and many others buskers have done?

These questions held BuskerWorld back. To be honest I couldn’t relate to the negativity and I didn’t know how to address these issues because my attitude differed to what many buskers were thinking. I believe that you make your own success no matter how difficult the situation appears to be. If something is not working then try something new, move locations, copy other success stories, join forces with friends or fellow musicians to get the creative ideas flowing. After all, sharing the profits is better than no profits at all. I get focussed and put my thinking cap on and try ANYTHING that will change a situation I don’t like, no matter how scary it may feel. But it seemed that many people weren’t thinking this way and I didn’t know what to say that most could relate to. I wasn’t sure if my busking success, tips and advice were creating despair rather than inspiration.

For the early part of 2009, BuskerWorld was experiencing website technical difficulties and I had an upsurge in my own music career which kept me busy and gave me time to gather my thoughts about what information I should share with BuskerWorld members. I then received the following busking story and realised that it related to the common negativity I was witnessing and that it would make a perfect subject for this blog.

This is a story that all buskers could relate to as it demonstrates rejection at its best  – a common dilemma which can quickly eat away at a performers self confidence and lead to a gloomy outlook. In my own experience, a determination to keep trying time and time again resulted in a great deal of success on the street, but rejection was – and STILL IS – a dominant factor. Persistence is the key and hearing stories such as the one below helps strengthen my confidence in what I do, as well as solidify my understanding of how unpredictable street performance can be. Perseverance resulted in years of busking experience that gave me all the clues I needed to conquer times of recession and I reveal these invaluable tips in my ebook. I hope this story inspires you to keep trying… to persist.

A busker sat at the Metro station in Washington DC and started to play the violin. It was a cold January morning and it appeared to most that this performer had braved the harsh weather to earn his keep. His street performance lasted 45 minutes and included six Bach pieces. As it was rush hour thousands of people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.

3 minutes went by and a middle-aged man noticed there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then, as if suddenly realizing he had been momentarily distracted from his usual morning routine he hurried off to meet his schedule.  A minute later, the violinist received his first dollar tip from a woman who threw the money in the violin case without stopping. A few minutes later another by passer leaned against the wall to listen to him before looking at his watch and rushing off again, clearly he was due somewhere.

In this 45 minute busking session, only 6 people stopped and watched for a short time. About 20 gave him money but continued to walk at their normal pace. The busker collected $32. His music was mostly unnoticed and when he finished playing, no one applauded, only 1 person acknowledged his talent.

No one knew this, but the violinist at this particularly ‘lonely’ performance happened to be Joshua Bell, one of the most renowned musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, with a violin worth over 3 million dollars. Two days before this solo busk in the subway, Joshua Bell sold out at a theatre in Boston where the seats average $100.

Joshua Bell playing incognito in the Metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and priorities of people. The summary was – in a commonplace environment at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context?

And the conclusions from this experiment could be: If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing some of the best music ever written, how many other things are we missing?

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