London welcomes buskers to the digital revolution

Moving into the connected era has threatened the livelihoods of numerous individuals, but a new initiative from Busk In London and iZettle, backed by London Mayor Sadiq Khan plans to bring buskers into the digital economy.

Just like pigeons and pretentious coffee shops, buskers have become a staple of the worlds’ biggest cities, but like checkout employees in the supermarket, their very existence has come under threat. The connected era is all about digital payments and moving towards a cashless society, meaning the fame-chasing buskers were under threat of become penniless. This initiative, launched by Khan over the weekend, will aim to put contactless payment terminals in the hands of the performers.

A small number of performers have been testing the solution over recent weeks, though the scheme will now be rolled out across the 32 Greater London boroughs. The readers will need to be connected to a smartphone or tablet, while the donated amount will be fixed by the performer, and will be compatible with contactless cards, phones, and smartwatches.

“Now, more Londoners will be able to show their support to the capital’s brilliant, talented street performers,” Khan said.

The devices themselves will be provided by iZettle, which seems to have a head-start on Square in this area, though it is not clear whether the performers will have to pay for them up-front. Such devices are becoming more common for small businesses or street vendors, with PayPal recognising the potential for the technology. Last month, the tech giant agreed to acquire iZettle for $2.2 billion, allowing it to expand its presence in in-store payments globally.

Although there are still segments of society who are clinging onto physical cash, trends are heading down the digital avenue. According to data from Visa, contactless payments for transit and Transport for London (TfL) was up 97% over the last 12 months, while in Hong Kong transactions have tripled in the past 18 months, with one in three face-to-face Visa transactions is made via a contactless payment today. Canada is another country streaming ahead of global trends with Visa’s network processing 33 contactless transactions per second in the month of September.