NYC Subway Musician Etiquette

So I'm all for subway musicians playing their tunes and plying their trade on the underground, non-taxable superhighway. I think it's a lot of fun and I love that some people who you see year after year have really made this their livelihood. A little bit like me as a freelance writer (though I have to fill out a tax form for the man at the end of the year). Regardless; I'm all for the free enterprise of these unfounded businesses. Police know about it, Bloomberg knows about it, Pataki knows about it, heck even Obama knows about it; still it goes on.

These subway musicians are a step up from simple beggars telling their sorrowful story. Musicians are doing something which some find entertaining; accepting gifts in exchange so that they can keep doing it. This is a fine way for the well-to-do to show their children how to be generous and for the fellow music aficionado to pay it forward once in a while. For me, it's not really my thing. I'm also too poor and ride the subway way too often to be able to afford to pay these folks.

Anyway most of the time underground I have my iPod on and it's cranked up all the way so I don't have to listen to these characters. Still, I support their right. However I saw these two dudes in the attached picture on the A train the other day and their whole breakdown just made me batty. For those who don't know the way these musicians roll, they are typically very aware of the ensuing ride. They most often get onto EXPRESS trains and play on the extended trips. Even if the trip is shorter they typically have songs to fit the ride.

That is a ride from 125th street to 59th street is one stop on the A train and lasts around 3-4 minutes. A ride from 34th Street to 14th Street on the 2, 3 line runs about half that. So the musicians are able to pick songs for the different length rides and then they make sure they have time to pass the baseball cap around before the train doors open. It's important for them to be able to pass the cap around and be shown love because if they're still playing and people who wanted to give them money are getting off they have nowhere to put this money. These subway musicians are not like stationary street artists who sit in one spot and have a permanent receptacle. They have to keep moving; the exchange of funds has to be fluid.

The two guys with the bongo drums in the attached photograph were a real piece of work. They got on the A train headed downtown at 42nd Street/Times Square. During rush hour (5:30pm). They set up right in the middle of the car in front of both of the doorways; in the way of the isle. Then it wasn't enough that they played belligerently through the whole of the trip from 42nd Street to 34th Street; they kept on playing all the way until West 4th Street. 42nd to 34th, 34th to 14th, 14th to West 4th - sitting in the way of the door in the middle of the isle - totally breaking the code of subway musician etiquette. Because this was rush hour, numerous people who wanted to get on and off the train had to maneuver around these guys.

For those who ride the subways at all they know what an inconvenience this can be. If these underground musicians don't want to launch a rough and tumble team of Special Forces officers who will come in and crack down on subway music, they have to honor the code of playing in the subway and not get in people's way with their stuff. If these guys had waited just a couple more stops they would have been able to get the A train headed over into Brooklyn and they could have played out for far longer.