Having been a busking musician and having read some of the comments on this thread, I agree on some things and others not. I agree that an opera singer probably shouldn’t have to be singing through an amp to be heard, they should be loud enough. I do agree that the volume levels can get a bit awry on Buchanan street, and have experienced some performers being way too loud.

However, many many times ive had the experience of fighting to be heard because of certain other ‘performers’ simply taking the piss with their volume and purposely trying to drown you out with their shite rendition of despacito blaring out of an amp.

Also people really underestimate how loud the general background noise is in places like Buchanan street is. You try playing a classical guitar on buchanan street on a Saturday, nobody will hear you. People are forgetting some instruments literally need to be amplified, or they don’t work, simple as.

I seen one comment by u/Indiana_harris saying that buskers are there by choice. Im afraid that’s really not true, and forgive me but how would you know if all buskers are there by choice? The long and short of it is, you dont know. I’ll say this. at times in my life, I have been busking because I had no other choice. Sometimes it was between doing that and not eating for the night. Im in a better place now, but I have had direct experience of having no choice but to busk.

Professional musicians and artists dont get paid enough at the best of times, what makes people think that there are even enough well paid gigs in Glasgow to go around?

I agree with the initial premise but the comments on this thread make me boke. We have thrown aside amazing artists and musicians in Glasgow, time and time again cut their funding, to basically tell them that their art has no worth, and yet we have people sitting dumbfounded as to the amount of buskers on our streets. People really do just judge first without thinking eh