(SHANGHAI) For the first time in modern Chinese history, buskers and street-performers may be able to perform their art without being stopped. "We'll be the first city in China to open arms to street-side performers," said Luo Huaizhen, a playwright who for the last eight years has urged the Shanghai People's Congress to allow street performers.

Shanghai residents will be able to see artists and performers doing creative shows in public spaces for the first time since the World Expo in 2010 when it was temporarily allowed. China has forbidden buskers because crowds gather possibly leading to discussions concerning the government.

Busker Central noticed a few years ago when the Chinese government started draining the street-performer website with useless connections. It has since had to block China...

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(VENICE BEACH) The Venice Beach boardwalk is known as a happening place. However, the Los Angeles City Council thinks there may be too much going on there.After receiving hundreds of complaints from area residents over the past year, the council has asked city lawyers to draw up some new rules. The new rules could include a ban on musical instruments and amplified sound between sunset and 9 A.M.

The council wants to crack down on street performers that draw big crowds and clog the boardwalk. The council also wants to limit the size and number of demonstrations. Many people consider the boardwalk a free speech zone.

Councilman Bill Rosendahl says it's the first step toward creating a more peaceful environment for boardwalk business owners, residents and thousands of visitors.

abc7.com

(LONDON) A lot of cities have their individual busking requirements to satisfy city hall. However, it seems London's busking code is more complete than others and could be used as a benchmark for general busking.City Hall said the rules, which cover where to busk, avoids complaints, money collection, and resolving problems. It's aim is to make busking and street performance easier for everyone.

"Busking adds to the capital’s joie de vivre but in spite of its popularity buskers have sometimes encountered problems when plying their trade. Some have even been put off.

Working with our partners, we are putting a scythe through the acres of unnecessary bureaucracy to make it easier to entertain on our city’s streets.

We want to make London the busking capital of the world.”

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(from the You've got-to-be-kidding-me Department)
One of the themes of 2009 was that collection societies around the world went nuts trying to charge for anything they possibly could while also trying to increase the rates they could charge. Even banks went wild with their hidden charges.

Remember how one collection society wanted to charge a woman because she put on music in public for her horses? Or how about the woman who worked in a grocery store who was told to stop singing while stocking the shelves or the store would have to pay a performance fee? And, of course, we had ASCAP trying to claim that ringtones were public performances, and mobile operators needed to pay up -- beyond the license fee that was already paid on the recording.

SOCAN, the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada, has been no exception pushing for drastically increased rates...

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(NYC) Times Square busker and street-performer Bob Burck has filed a $1.5 million lawsuit against CBS over a 'Bold and the Beautiful' promo. Burck filed for trademark on his act back in 1997. He now seems content to sue mega-conglomerates with questionable legal teams for his livelihood. M & M Mars was his previous infringement suit which was settled out of court.

This time around, he's accusing the CBS network of using a guitar-toting drunken fool in a cowboy hat and underwear to promote a TV soap opera. However, as Bob has mentioned in his "brief" run for NYC mayor, "Nobody will take you seriously without wearing a suit", so he's gearing up for his court date and sending his suit out to the cleaners.


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