History Main / StreetMusician

* In SteambotChronicles, being a busker is a valid choice for making money.

[[folder: Film]]

* In ''{{Franchise/Zorro}}'s Fighting Legion'' one of the baddies is a DreadfulMusician mariachi who uses his busking as a cover for relaying secret messages.

[[folder: Live-Action TV]]

[[folder:Music Video]]

[[folder:Newspaper Comics]]
* Floyd in ''ComicStrip/BeyondTheBlackStump'', whose playing is so terrible people are more likely to pay him to stop -- even when he's playing air guitar.
* ''ComicStrip/LittleOrphanAnnie'': Annie worked as this together with "Uncle" Dan.
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[[folder: Video Games]]

[[folder: Webcomics]]

[[folder: Western Animation]]
* There's a PixarShort called "[[WesternAnimation/OneManBand2005 One Man Band]]", where a little girl wanting to toss a coin in a fountain to make a wish is accosted by two street musicians, each wanting her coin. They finally make her lose it and she demands to be compensated. They give her a violin, and when she proves to be a virtuoso, someone tosses her a bag full of coins.

-->'''Kahn''': ''She's playing in street for lousy tourists! She should be playing in Royal Albert Hall for Prince Charles and Camilla Parker-Bowles!

* There's a PixarShort called "One Man Band", where a little girl wanting to toss a coin in a fountain to make a wish is accosted by two street musicians, each wanting her coin. They finally make her lose it and she demands to be compensated. They give her a violin, and when she proves to be a virtuoso, someone tosses her a bag full of coins.

* One time on ''MadAboutYou'' Paul got some change for a pay phone (remember those?) from a street performer by putting a dollar in the guitar case and taking coins out. He was looked at askance by the performer and passers-by, who thought he was just taking money out. He made a big deal about putting in a five and just taking a little change.

* According to their song "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piXDIeaxiJ8 It's A Hard, Hard Life]]", The Stingers from ''WesternAnimation/{{Jem}}'' began as musicians living off the streets of Germany. They began slowly gaining popularity until [[RagsToRiches they became a hit band]] that fills out stadiums and clubs.

* An episode of ''TomAndJerryTales'' has Tom and Jerry competing against each other on opposite street corners, performing music for money.

* The Bangles in "Hero Takes A Fall"
* Dire Straits "Walk Of Life" features a Mark Knopfler Expy playing in a subway.

* In ''{{Zorro}}'s Fighting Legion'' one of the baddies is a DreadfulMusician mariachi who uses his busking as a cover for relaying secret messages.

* ''VideoGame/FableII'' - being a street musician (by playing a GuitarHero-style rhythm game) is one way you can earn money.

* The ''{{Monk}}'' episode "Mr Monk and the Very Dead Man" concerns a murdered street musician. The other police become convinced that it's the work of a serial killer in the making, one targeting street musicians. So they have Lt. Disher pose as a busker to draw the killer out.

* ''[[MahouTsukaiNiTaisetsuNaKotoNatsuNoSora Mahou Tsukai Ni Taisetsu Na Koto ~Natsu no Sora~]]'' has Yasuko, who sings and plays guitar across Shitokitazawa station in Tokyo. Main character Sora loves listening to her performances, and Yasuko's songs form a loose commentary on what happens in the series. Yasuko even interacts directly with the main cast later on and is included in the DistantFinale [[spoiler:where she is shown to have a serious career in music]].
* [[Main/MerryChristmasInGotham The Christmas episode]] of Anime/TheBigO has a saxophone player as a one-time protagonist. Although he's not very talented, he is portrayed in a very good light and certainly not a Main/DreadfulMusician.

* ''HomeMovies'' had a street musician, basically a bum tunelessly strumming his guitar and mumbling a rambling improv. Mc Guirk, after flirting with a waitress, drops a bill into the guy's guitar case in a rare good mood, then realizes he dropped in a twenty. He goes to fish it out and gets into an altercation with the guy, who starts yell-singing about "fatso" taking his money. Then, to add insult to injury, Mc Guirk sees that the waitress is the guy's girlfriend.

* In TheSims 1, the first job a Sim in the Music career has is "Subway Musician." Averted in TheSims 2, though; there a Musician sim starts off as a Record Store Clerk. In The Sims 3, anyone who can play a guitar can play for tips, regardless of their job.

* The buskers in ''QuestionableContent'', who even get into a turf war at one point (it's PlayedForLaughs).
* In ''{{Sinfest}}'', [[http://www.sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=3659 Squidley finds it far more effective than merely begging.]]

* There's a street band in Halloweentown on ''TheNightmareBeforeChristmas''.

* A violin player is seen playing the old animated ''Film/SpiderManTrilogy'' theme in the second movie. A blonde guitar player performs his own version at a subway station in the original ("Dresses like a spider/Looks like a bug...")

A street musician is one who plays an instrument anywhere large numbers of people congregate and/or pass by (such as at a busy streetcorner or subway station) in hopes that people will drop money; usually, his/her instrument case serves as place to gather said money. A common gag is to have the musician be [[DreadfulMusician purposely terrible]] and let people pay him to stop.

* In ''Literature/SoLongAndThanksForAllTheFish'', the LemonyNarrator notes that people in Hyde Park do things they would never do elsewhere, and offers as an example a bagpiper who chases away tourists who try to put money in his case saying "I'm only practicing!"

* The harmonica-player in ''Discworld/MovingPictures''.

* A violin player is seen playing the old animated ''Film/{{Spider Man}}'' theme in the second movie. A guitar player performs his own version at a subway station in the original ("Dresses like a spider/Looks like a bug...")

* MrBean used this trope a few times. Once in the TV episodes he wanted to drop money into a busker's saxophone case but discovered he had no loose change, so he laid down his handkerchief and danced along to the sax music. When a lady walked by and dropped a coin onto his handkerchief, Mr. Bean transferred it into the sax case and continued along on his way.
** Mr. Bean does some more busking in the 2007 film ''Mr. Bean's Vacation'' to several songs playing from a borrowed stereo, culminating in a lip-synched performance of Puccini's "O Mio Babbino Caro."