Tips and digital tip jars
The Busking Project for the street, GigTag for the stage
When the work moves from the pavement to a stage, what you need from the audience changes. They are seated, they will be back next week, and some of them hire acts. GigTag gives you one printed code for requests, your next dates and booking enquiries. The Busking Project, which you were looking at, is built for the street itself.
- No app for your audience
- Free to start
- One code that never changes
Why GigTag
Why booked gigs call for GigTag beside The Busking Project
The Busking Project serves street performers with a profile, a map and cashless tips. GigTag serves the act on a booked gig: song requests, residencies fans can save, links and a booking enquiry form from one tag. GigTag takes card tips too, and your busk.co sign keeps its job on the pitch.
- 1
Residencies your audience can save
A venue crowd comes back. Your GigTag page lists every gig and weekly residency, and a diner can add next week's to their calendar before the bill arrives. busk.co is organised around the pitch and the passing crowd. GigTag is organised around the dates in your diary.
- 2
Enquiries from people who heard you
The booking enquiry form sits on your page, so the person who enjoyed your set can send a date and details from their table. You answer from the website or the GigTag app. There is no commission on bookings. GigTag is not a marketplace: every enquiry comes from someone who watched you play.
- 3
A song list the room chooses from
Seated audiences like to ask for songs. On GigTag they pick from your list, or type anything if you open requests, and it reaches a live queue on your phone. You decide what to play and when. Requests are part of Pro and work in every country.
- 4
Invoices for the paid work
Festival and private bookings need paperwork. On Pro you send the client an invoice in your own design and they pay it online, from the same place your enquiries arrive. That keeps the booked side of your work together, separate from the hat.
- 5
One small tag, every stage
The tag is made for the mic stand and the code on it never changes. It opens in the phone's browser with no app and no account. Use it at the restaurant, the festival and the wedding, and print it yourself from the free plan if you like.
In short
The Busking Project and GigTag, in four lines
- The Busking Project is a community for street performers, with profiles, a map, cashless tips and BuskPay signs.
- GigTag is built for booked gigs: requests, residencies fans can save and a booking enquiry form.
- One GigTag code covers every venue, opens in the browser and never changes.
- Our recommendation: add GigTag for stage work and its tips, and keep busk.co for the street.
Side by side
GigTag vs The Busking Project, topic by topic
Where you perform
A tag made for booked gigs
The tag is made for the mic stand at booked gigs: bars, restaurants, hotels, private events. The same tag works at every one of them.
The Busking ProjectIts focus is the street. The signs are described as waterproof and durable, made for the particular needs of people performing outdoors.
Taking a tip
Card tips at the gig, 0% taken
Tips go by card or Apple Pay into your own Stripe account, or your own Ziina account in the UAE. GigTag takes 0%. Your page can also link to your busk.co profile.
The Busking ProjectIts site says audiences can tip with Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal or a card, through the payment platform you connected to your account.
Getting hired
Enquiries from your own audience, no commission
GigTag is not a marketplace. The booking enquiry form on your page is for people who have just seen you play and scanned the tag.
The Busking ProjectOrganisers browse buskers on its hire page and contact them, which its about page presents as a route to paid opportunities.
Staying in touch afterwards
Links to follow, dates to save
A fan can follow your socials, website and music links from your page, and add your next gig or residency to their calendar.
The Busking ProjectA tipper can choose to share their email address with the busker, so the performer can contact them after the show.
Selling your music
Keep busk.co for this; GigTag links to your music
GigTag is not a music store. Your page has music links, so wherever your recordings are sold or streamed can be one tap away.
The Busking ProjectIts about page says buskers can sell albums to their audience through the platform, which it describes as designed for street sales.
The quick view
| GigTag | The Busking Project | |
|---|---|---|
| A QR code your audience scans | Yes, one that never changes | Yes |
| Song requests from the crowd | Yes, on Pro | – |
| Tips by card or Apple Pay | Yes, on Pro, into your own Ziina or Stripe. GigTag takes 0% | Yes |
| Booking enquiries | Yes, on the free plan | – |
| Your gigs and weekly residencies | Yes, on the free plan | – |
| Invoices for bookings | Yes, on Pro | – |
| A printed tag for your mic stand | Yes, in your own design | – |
| Works without an app for the audience | Yes, it opens in the browser | – |
A dash means we did not confirm it for The Busking Project, not that it is missing: see what The Busking Project offers above, or ask on its site.
A The Busking Project alternative
Where GigTag is different from The Busking Project
The pitch and the residency
busk.co is built around the street: a pitch, a crowd that gathers and moves on, a sign that survives the rain. GigTag is built around booked work. Your page lists your next gig and your weekly residencies, and someone who liked your Thursday set can add next Thursday to their calendar before the bill arrives. The tag is small and sits on the mic stand.
Being found, or being asked
On busk.co an event organiser can browse a directory of buskers and get in touch. GigTag is not a marketplace or a directory and will not find clients for you. Its booking enquiry form is for people who have just watched you play: they scan the tag, send the date and details, and you reply. On Pro you can then invoice them in your own design.
Tips on the street and at the gig
The Busking Project takes cashless tips through payment platforms you connect to your busk.co account. GigTag tips go by card or Apple Pay into your own Stripe account, or your own Ziina account in the UAE, with 0% taken by GigTag. What the tag adds on top is song requests: from your list, or anything if you open requests, arriving in a live queue on your phone.
A night with GigTag
From the pitch to a food festival stage
This weekend the booking is a food festival, on a small stage between the stalls. It is paid work, so there is no hat out, but the GigTag tag is on the mic stand as always. People eating at the long tables scan it from where they sit. Your page opens in their browser. One asks for a song from your list, and it shows up in the live queue on your phone while you are tuning. You play it next.
The festival crowd is full of people who plan things. During the break one of them sends a booking enquiry through your page for a company summer party. You see it on the GigTag app and answer before the second set. Others look at your gigs, find the weekly restaurant residency and add it to their calendar. When the party is confirmed you send an invoice in your own design, and the client pays it online. Invoices and requests are part of GigTag Pro.
About The Busking Project
What is The Busking Project?
The Busking Project is a community for street performers, run from busk.co. Its site says it grew out of a film project about buskers around the world, and that it is a community interest company run by volunteers. Its stated aim is to stand up for buskers and show off what they do, through technology, advocacy and research. Performers get a profile in its directory and a place on its map, and people planning events can browse the directory to hire a busker.
For money on the street it offers cashless tips, which its site says can be paid with Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal or a card. BuskPay is its range of waterproof signs with a QR code: the audience scans, sends a tip, and can choose to share an email address with you. To use a sign you need a busk.co account with a payment platform connected.
- Where
- Worldwide
- Website
- busk.co
How The Busking Project works
- 1
Join busk.co. You sign up on busk.co and make a profile. That places you in its directory of buskers and on its map, where fans and organisers can look performers up by place.
- 2
Connect a way to be paid. In your tip settings you connect at least one payment platform to your account. Its shop page says this is required before a sign will work.
- 3
Put out the sign. A BuskPay sign is a waterproof board with your QR code on it. It needs no battery, so you stand it by the hat and leave it there for the show.
- 4
Collect the tip. Someone in the crowd scans the sign and sends a tip. You get a notification, and if they chose to share it, their email address as well.
Who The Busking Project is for
Street performers. Everything starts from the busker: musicians and other acts who work in public space. The site offers them a profile, a way to take cashless tips and a sign built to cope with weather, pavements and being thrown in a bag.
People hiring entertainment. A hire page lets event organisers browse the directory and get in touch with performers. Its about page describes this as helping buskers find paid work beyond the street, wherever in the world the event happens to be.
Fans and supporters of busking. The site also speaks to people who simply like street performance. They can find buskers on the map, follow the blog, and read about the organisation's advocacy and research on the rules that affect busking.
The verdict
GigTag or The Busking Project: which should you choose?
The bottom line
If you play booked gigs as well as the street, add GigTag. The strongest reason is that it is built for an audience that stays: they request songs, save your next residency and send booking enquiries, all from one scan with no app. The Busking Project is still the right home for your street work, its community and cashless tips on the pitch. A performer who does both kinds of work should use both.
They suit different days of the week. Keep your busk.co profile and BuskPay sign for the street, where they belong. Use a GigTag tag for venue gigs and residencies, for requests and booking enquiries, and put your busk.co profile among the links on your GigTag page. That link gives your venue audience a second way to tip, beside GigTag's own tips.
- Step 1
Keep the street setup
Your busk.co profile, your payment connection and your BuskPay sign carry on as they are. They are built for the pitch and that is where they stay.
- Step 2
Add a tag for booked work
Make a GigTag page with your song list, your gigs and any residency, and hang the tag on the mic stand when you play indoors or to a seated crowd.
- Step 3
Join the two up
Put your busk.co profile in the links on your GigTag page, so a fan who knows you from the street can find it.
Choose GigTag if
You play indoors as much as out and want a code that takes requests, shows your residencies and brings booking enquiries from the people watching.
Start freeThe Busking Project may still suit you if
You are a street performer first, and you want a profile, a map listing and a weatherproof sign from an organisation that speaks up for buskers.
GigTag FreeYour page, your tag design, every gig and residency, a booking form. One act.
GigTag ProSong requests, tips, invoices, more than one act. AED 30, £11.99 or $15.99 a month.
GigTag Printed tagFrom AED 100 in the UAE, £24.99 in the UK or €28.99 in the EU, delivered free, with a large size for more; $32.99 elsewhere, plus postage from the UK. Or print your own, anywhere, for free.
Questions
The Busking Project and GigTag: what people ask
Something else? Ask us. A person reads every message.
Is GigTag better than The Busking Project for restaurant and festival gigs?
For booked gigs, GigTag is the closer fit. It is made for the mic stand at a venue: a song list for requests, a live queue on your phone, your gigs and residencies for fans to save, and a booking enquiry form. For street pitches and the busking community, The Busking Project remains the tool built for that work.
What does GigTag add if I already have a profile on The Busking Project?
It adds the tools for an audience that sits down. One printed code opens a page with song requests, your upcoming gigs and residencies, your links and a booking enquiry form. On Pro you can invoice clients in your own design. Your busk.co profile can be one of the links, so the two point at each other.
What is The Busking Project?
The Busking Project runs busk.co, a community for street performers. Buskers get a profile, a place on its map and cashless tips, and it sells BuskPay signs with a QR code for the street. Event organisers can browse the directory to hire performers. Its site describes it as a community interest company run by volunteers.
Is GigTag an alternative to a BuskPay sign from The Busking Project?
For tips, it can be: GigTag tips go by card or Apple Pay into your own Stripe account, or your own Ziina account in the UAE. Beyond tips the two do different things. A BuskPay sign is for cashless tips on the street. A GigTag tag opens a page for song requests, your gigs and residencies, your links and booking enquiries.
Can I link my profile on The Busking Project from my GigTag page?
Yes. A GigTag page carries your socials, website and music links, so your busk.co profile can sit among them. Someone who scans the tag at a venue can then reach your busker profile and tip you there, while the GigTag page handles requests, dates and enquiries.
Does The Busking Project work in the UK and the UAE?
Its shop page says BuskPay signs work almost everywhere in the world and in many currencies, so check busk.co for your own country. GigTag works in every country for requests, gigs, links, booking enquiries and tips.
Can a street performer use GigTag without a regular venue?
Yes. A busker can use a GigTag page for song requests, links and booking enquiries on any pitch, and add dates when there are some to list. Gigs, residencies, links and the enquiry form are on the free plan, and song requests are part of Pro.
How do I get private bookings from busking?
Give the people watching a way to ask. On a GigTag page there is a booking enquiry form: someone scans the tag, sends their date and details, and you take it from there. GigTag will not find clients for you. On The Busking Project, organisers can also browse buskers on its hire page.
Can I use one GigTag tag on the street and at venue gigs?
Yes. The code on the tag never changes, so the same tag works on a pitch, in a restaurant and at a private event. If you rename the act, old links still work. You can order the printed tag or print the file yourself for free.
Is The Busking Project only for musicians?
Its site addresses buskers and street performers in general, not one kind of act. GigTag is narrower: it is made for live acts, whether solo, duo or band, with a song list for requests and a page for gigs and residencies.
Looking for The Busking Project itself?
This page is GigTag's. The Busking Project's sign-in, prices, reviews and support are on its own site.
Apps like The Busking Project: more tips and digital tip jars compared
- Buy Me a Coffeevs GigTag
- Cash Appvs GigTag
- EZTiprvs GigTag
- Ko-fivs GigTag
- Liberapayvs GigTag
- live.tipsvs GigTag
The Busking Project is the name of its owner's product; GigTag is not connected with it. What is said about The Busking Project here comes from its own public website, checked on 7 October 2026. Products change: if something here is out of date, tell us and we will correct it.
For musicians
One code on your stand. Requests, tips and the next gig behind it.
No app for your audience, nothing to download. Free to start.