Making Money as a Street Performer

From 1991 to 1996, I lived in Memphis.  During that time, almost every time I was on Beale St, there were  kids down there doing flips and other stunts for money.

It looked really unorganized.  Maybe 5-6 kids, each 8-10 years old, hanging out, putting on a show every 15-20 minutes.

But it ended up being highly organized.  I made friends with one of them.  He was one of two, who never did a stunt, but would take a bucket around after the show to collect money. 

He told me the group split the money evenly.  In other words, he got just as much as the guys putting on the show.  And even at 7-8 years old, he had a system for getting the maximum amount of money from each audience.

Also explained to me that they helped to train other kids in their neighborhood to do stunts and collect money.  The more people who got involved, the more money they made.

Video below explains more about what these kids do.  Notice how they get the crowd involved and how they build suspense.  This is something any street performer, including musicians, can do to make more money.

More information on this group...

Article from Memphis Business Journal
Booking Information

Any tips for making more money with street performing? Please post them in the comments section.