City of Newcastle is looking to introduce permits for buskers to perform in public spaces as part of a new policy being developed.
The idea came through a notice of motion led by Labor councillor Carol Duncan, who said she had been asked about busking by a local performer.
"He said to me where can I go? Where can we play? What do we need to know? Because we want to do it the right way," Cr Duncan said.
"So that's one part of where the notice of motion has come from and the other one is through concerns that were raised by residents at Bar Beach who have concerns about the amenity of where they're living.
"They support the busking, they support the live music, they just want to make sure that when they have queries and concerns that they're supported as well.
"That's the aim of this notice of motion is to see if we can come up with a really good policy that can help bring all of those elements together for a really enjoyable experience."
The motion said the objective of the buskers licence was "to ensure public safety, city amenity, and the quality of performances" and that the council would need to implement guidelines and regulations to govern street performances and activities that will address any related concerns.
It also recommended the council form a live music approval subcommittee that would assess applications, with suggested members listed as Cr Duncan, event development specialist Mark Stratford and council senior licensing officer Gavin Aubrey.
Greens councillor John Mackenzie said he supported the idea and was surprised the council had not looked at it already.
Liberal councillor Callum Pull said he did not agree with introducing a licence.
"I'd be concerned about the fact that we would then be charging performers and that this would potentially open the door to council dictating what people are allowed to listen to out in the community," he said.
"I think the success of a busker at this current point in time is pretty well determined by how many coins or notes people drop into their case."
Independent councillor John Church was firmly against the motion.
"The addition of a live music approval subcommittee made up of a councillor and some council staff is horrific to me," he said. "This sounds so Orwellian that we would reach into people's lives and decide what is acceptable and unacceptable in terms of public performance of music in our city."
But Cr Duncan said the concept was not about dictating what sort of live music people can listen to.
"I think if we simply say we're going to not have a permit then there's just no point to this notice of motion," she said. "It just can remain a free-for-all with no protection for anybody.
"I know that we've previously had instances where council has had concerns about different public events that have been happening where technically we have not had any right, regulation or support to actually move them on or to change these sorts of things.
"It's really important that we don't prescribe that this form of music or this art form is better than another and therefore it's more worthy for public performance."
Councils that issue buskers permits in NSW include Albury, Burwood, Byron Shire, Campbelltown, Canada Bay, Central Coast, Camden, City of Sydney, Federation, Inner West, Kyogle, Northern Beaches, North Sydney, Tamworth, Waverley, Willoughby and Wollongong.
