Australians are less generous than tourists in giving money to buskers, and are becoming more stingy because of technology.
"Nobody carries cash," said Hemlock Mejarne, an acrobat and advocate for the rights of street performers.
"You don't payWave buskers. Nobody's got cash even if they love the show."
Three-quarters of people express satisfaction with busking in Pitt Street Mall, according to a survey commissioned by the City of Sydney.
New busking locations, an audition process for buskers and a busking festival are among the ideas canvassed in the council's Busking in the City of Sydney discussion paper.
Other issues discussed in the paper include managing noise, identifying new busking locations and dealing with other landowners who control areas such as Darling Harbour, the Circular Quay promenade and Barangaroo.
???Lord mayor Clover Moore said the discussion paper was designed to support musicians and performers on the streets of Sydney.
"Busking brings our public spaces to life, entertains thousands and helps talented musicians and performers make a living," she said.
Yet the council may not be able to alleviate challenges caused by terrorism fears, technology and stingy audiences.
Mejarne said audiences were "hard everywhere in Australia" but particularly since the September 11 terrorist attacks stoked fears of terrorism.
"People were scared to gather in large groups in public," he said. "And then as that started easing off, we've had the rise of plastic. Everyone's carrying plastic. Nobody carries cash."
Tourists were more likely to carry cash and pay buskers, he said. "Culturally Australia hasn't been generous with their street performers and buskers.
"If you can make a living out of busking in Australia, when you go overseas you kick arse," he said.
Mejarne said he supported the idea of a busking festival but opposed an audition process except for high-traffic areas such as Pitt Street Mall.
Fellow street performer Daniel Nimmo said he did not favour an auditions for buskers, apart from safety audits for danger acts.
"The streets should be a testing ground and development forum for all stages of artistic practice," he said.
Nimmo said an audition process would exclude travelling buskers, who fostered a "better busking culture and better quality and more diverse acts".
"The street can be brutal and beautiful," Nimmo said. "It is an anvil - it either forges or it shatters. The public is brutally honest with their time, attention and donations."
He said the council and the public were supportive of buskers but Sydney's wet weather posed a challenge.
The council's strategy adviser for live music and performance, Hugh Nichols, said Sydney buskers faced similar challenges to their counterparts in other cities.
"Major cities are becoming increasingly more populated and louder, so making sure that public spaces continue to be shared by the community and accessible to musicians and performers is very important."
He said an audition process had worked well in places such as Melbourne's Bourke Street Mall and the London Underground.
"The city does not regulate based on quality," he said. "Becoming a busker can be a pretty confronting experience for a lot of performers because the feedback is immediate and audiences will generally vote with their feet."
He added: "Children with recorders should absolutely be able to busk."
