I was downtown today picking up some files and I saw a guy playing music on the corner for money. There's nothing uncommon about this by my office. Usually there's about 10 or 15 people playing on corners within a block of my office.
At first I thought this guy was wearing a skirt. That still isn't unusual either. Various states of cross dress are usually seen in the neighborhood.
What was unusual was that he was playing the bagpipes. It was loud. I was able to hear it in my office. Now, play what you want and do what you want. The guy who plays the keyboards and adlibs songs about the people walking by is one of my favorite street performers. Never mind the facts that he can't sing, or play, or that his songs make no sense. You can tell that he was influenced by Wesley Willis. With the bagpipe guy I have no idea.
Bagpipe music isn't short and sweet. I'm not going to stop on the corner and tap my toe while he plays McPherson's Rant for 8 minutes. It's also not that catchy. I never really think, "Man if I get Scots Wai Hey stuck in my head one more time I'll have to listen to Kelly Clarkson."
As far as money making strategies go it kind of sucks. Even his skirt, which turned out to be a kilt, diminished my urge to give him money. I thought, this guy isn't a real freak. He's just bad at gauging his audience.
When I see a street performer I want extreme goofiness and catchiness. I want to be able to take in most of the song within 1 block. I don't care about technical merit. Lyrics like "Hey the lady with the blue stockings, your hot let's get rocking, yeah whoah, yeah." and bad casio always wins out over a wicked rendition of Herb Albert's Tijuana Brass. That gets my money.
It's hard to Ceilidh dance on the way to work is all I'm saying.