Editing Street performance (section)

=== Pitches ===
The place where a performance occurs is called a "pitch". A good pitch can be the key to success as a busker. An act that might make money at one place and time may not work at all in another setting. Popular pitches tend to be public places with large volumes of pedestrian traffic, high visibility, low background noise and as few elements of interference as possible. Good locations may include tourist spots, popular parks, entertainment districts including many restaurants, cafés, bars and pubs and theaters, [[rapid transit|subways]] and bus stops, outside the entrances to large concerts and sporting events, almost any plaza or [[town square]] as well as [[zócalo]]s in Latin America and [[piazza]]s in other regions. Other places include shopping malls, strip malls, and outside supermarkets, although permission is usually required from management for these.

In her book, ''Underground Harmonies: Music and Politics in the Subways of New York'', Susie J. Tanenbaum examined how the adage "Music hath charms to soothe the savage beast" plays out in regards to busking. Her sociological studies showed that in areas where buskers regularly perform, crime rates tended to go down, and that those with higher education attainment tended to have a more positive view of buskers than did those of lesser educational attainment.<ref name="Tanenbaum">Tanenbaum, Susie, J. (1995). [https://books.google.com/books?id=mjIuOSZe2j0C&q=Underground+Harmonies:+Music+and+Politics+in+the+Subways+of+New+York Underground Harmonies: Music and Politics in the Subways of New York.] ''Google books''; Cornell University Press. {{ISBN|0-8014-8222-4}}</ref> Some cities encourage busking in particular areas,<ref name="Startz">{{cite web| title=What this town needs is a little street music| author=Startz, Dick | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080404212605/http://www.uwnews.org/admin/ss/page.asp?pid=247&articleID=10422|archive-date=4 April 2008| url=http://www.uwnews.org/admin/ss/page.asp?pid=247&articleID=10422 |work=uwnews.org |publisher= University of Washington News and Information| date=25 May 2005 }}</ref> giving preference to city government-approved buskers and even publishing schedules of performances.<ref name="MTANY">[http://web.mta.info/mta/aft/muny/ MTA: Arts for Transit: Music Under New York]. ''mta.info''; [[Metropolitan Transportation Authority]], New York. Retrieved 2016-07-15.</ref>

Many cities in the United States have particular areas known to be popular spots for buskers. Performers are found at many locations like Mallory Square in [[Key West]], in [[New Orleans]], in New York around [[Central Park]], [[Washington Square Park|Washington Square]], and the subway systems, in San Francisco, in Washington, D.C. around the transit centers, in Los Angeles around [[Venice, Los Angeles|Venice Beach]], the [[Santa Monica]] [[Third Street Promenade]], and the Hollywood area, in Chicago on [[Maxwell Street]], in the [[Delmar Loop]] district of [[St. Louis]], and many other locations throughout the US.
Busking is still quite common in Scotland, Ireland ([[Grafton Street#Busking|Grafton Street]], [[Dublin]]), and England with musicians and other street performers of varying talent levels.