The Sound Transit security guard pointed to the security camera, and told us we had to stop playing. He said we sounded good, but it wasnât up to him. Whoever was on the other side of the security camera said we had to stop. He said this was private property, and those are the rules. The people listening to us protested. He said it wasnât up to him. Again he pointed at the camera.
This was outside of the Beacon Hill light rail station last summer. I was playing accordion and my bandmate was playing banjo. So I was surprised to read the recent comment of Sound Transit's public information officer, Bruce Gray, that busking has not been a problem at Sound Transit stations.
From a buskerâs perspective, it has been impossible.
Busking in public spaces is legal.
A public transit station is public space, inside and out.
I met with Sound Transit in January to talk about the busking policy at light rail stations. They told me there currently is no busking policy so it is not allowed. They said they are open to the idea of busking, but it will take a long time to formulate a policy to govern it. Why should it take a long time do allow me to do something that is already legal?
According to the representative who met with me, Sound Transit is afraid of being sued, though in my view they have an unrealistic idea what they might get sued for. One concern they mentioned was: if they allowed busking and a musicianâs instrument got damaged, the musician could sue them. Iâve never heard of that happening. I have heard of many cases of buskers suing over violation of their first amendment rights, often represented by the ACLU.
Iâm a busker on purpose, not because I failed at something else. I love it, even when itâs cold and thankless and horrible. I throw a surprise party for whoever is walking by. And when Iâm busking, I love you. If Iâm playing accordion, and youâre walking by, I will do my best to play good music, curated on the spot to complement your mood and the time and the space.
Recorded music canât do that.
When you want to know what all those buttons on the accordion do, Iâll take the time to explain it to you. When you seem stressed and agitated, I play a beautiful waltz and watch the tension dissipate. When you want to do a silly dance move to cheer up your grumpy companions, Iâve got some Russian cartoon music to get you going. The parties I throw are for everybody, I routinely play music that allows rich people and homeless people to dance in the same place at the same time.
Thatâs something no club in Seattle can claim.
Most people enjoy good buskers and loathe being stuck with bad ones. The best antidote is to support good buskers. Seattle is losing its best talent to places like New Orleans and New York where they donât just say they like music, but actually support the musicians in front of them.
If you enjoy what a busker is doing, leave them a tip. If you like it enough to take a picture or video, leave a tip beforehand. Pictures and video take people out of the present moment, buskers are trying to bring people into the present moment, so if you take out a cell phone youâre making the buskerâs job more difficult, and they deserve some compensation for that.
Efforts to regulate busking usually cite concern for public safety. Too often âsafetyâ is a euphemism for control. The little research that exists on busking and its relationship to safety and crime indicates that busking tends to decrease crime in an area while making people feel safer. Thatâs why Seattle hires musicians to âactivateâ public spaces like Occidental Parkâto make them more welcoming to strolling families.
(Itâs also why Sound Transit has hired musicians to help inaugurate the new stations that are opening this weekend. Given their stated safety concerns, itâs hard not to notice the irony of this choice.)
Busking is allowed in the downtown Seattle bus tunnels because Seattle Metro was presented with the legal precedent and realized they had to allow it. Busking is also allowed on the subway platforms of New York, Boston, and many other cities. To the best of my knowledge it hasnât presented a safety issue for those systems.
The acoustics inside the Beacon Hill station are exquisite. A quiet solo musician or small ensemble could bring the space alive. The Columbia city platform is a big expanse of outdoor concrete, a full band could play there and not overwhelm or be in anyoneâs way. Bruce Greyâs assertion that busking is not allowed anywhere commuters need to move quickly is easily accommodated without the need to ban busking on the platforms altogether.
Our public spaces are becoming increasingly privatized and regulated in the name of safety and security. Transit stations are where we come together to go our different ways, daydreaming in between. Should we not be allowed to communicate with one another in that space? Why should paid advertisers get to buy a slice of your attention with an ad for their product, but a musician offering you a song be banned from the same place?
I think it is vital to have access to unsponsored art in public spaces. The presence of buskers indicates a thriving arts culture. To ban them is a violation of the First Amendment, and a huge step backward for Seattle art.
If you want to let Sound Transit know your thoughts on what the busking policy should be, you can write to Janine.sawyer@soundtransit.org. (Please send me a copy too, at buskseattle@gmail.com)
