Do ticket sales mirror the value of talent?

Way to rip off the Joshua Bell experiment, TV3. Stay classy.

Sheesh, these comments are so anal and humourless that they must have been written by an entourage of earnest government geeks (with nothing better to do - now that all of the dry bikkies from yet another sodden, but sponsored morning tea have been wheeled away by the poor tea lady) from Wellington. Who cares about the details of meterage in busking law? Obviously the (beautifully shot and elegantly constructed) story was an experiment and a poignant insight into our cultural perceptions of perceived 'value'. I thoroughly enjoyed the piece and giggled at how ignorant most 'cultured Wellingtonians' really are! And what a superb violinist he is btw!!! Nice to hear even briefly through the telly!

It seems that the fact that the "experiment" was neither original nor scientific has been covered in some detail, so I won't go there. However, coming from a busker's perspective, the portrayal of the busker who was there first is a wee bit questionable. Granted, his outburst wasn't particularly civil, but the WCC busking policy handbook states: "A sound performance should be no closer than 50 metres to another sound performance." (A sound performance being busking with an instrument). The violinist's playing is gorgeous, but that doesn't entitle him to move in where another busker is already established. In a situation like this, the widely accepted etiquette is to politely ask the other busker when he or she will be finishing, and come back then. Busking doesn't need to be "fraught" if buskers are respectful of each other.

To Natasha - The minimum distance to be away from another busker is 50m, so being "close to 40 metres away" wasn't respectful to that busker so it's fair enough he got annoyed. Also, I agree with what Lisa said. Professional buskers just act out of common courtesy towards each other. Would Vesa have liked it if a metal band just started performing 40 metres away from a concert of his at the Michael Fowler Centre? It doesn't matter if another busker is loud or quiet or good or bad at their instrument, you're just meant to respect their space and use your common sense. Show some respect to the other busker. Showing that clip of him getting upset will definitely be detrimental for his busking and he was in the right the whole time.

But Natasha, the "Results" weren't interesting at all. If we had more reaction from those that stopped (What drew you to the muisic?) and those that didn't (Did you notice the busker?) then it might be considered an experiment. When I walked through the station the was an obviuos camera recording the guy and I tried to keep away from it, not particularly scientific. I'm sure many commutters recognised the quality of the music but had to get home to cook dinner or something. I guess we'll never know. Grumble over.

Yawn - Joshua Bell already did this as others have stated.

I would have liked to have seen what would have happened if he was playing more popular classical music, like Flight of the Bumblebee, or Vivaldi's Four Seasons for example. I think if it was stuff more people tend to know, they would more easily recognise his talent and stop to listen.

What a terrible story. Why pick Wellington Railway Station? Have you ever watch the ants heading for the station in the evening? They move like zombies, not allowing anyone or anything to get in there way. Why wasn't the story done around the lunchtime in Woodward Street or Midland Park. Then you would of found people taking time to appreciate beautiful music.

Joshua Bell did the same thing nearly 3 years ago in the Washington DC subway, with the same sort of results. I think this gentleman should have not had a music stand nor sheet music. Surely he has committed some works to memory. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/04/AR2007040401721.html As for why such response - I think that most folks in such settings are not paying much attention to their surroundings and are mostly focused on their destinations, however I also believe that most people do not appreciate classical music. Put a folk or country or pop music musician in this setting and a greater response will result.

Like many things in this world - this wasn't a new idea. It was done superbly by the Washington Post and others - we just thought we'd give it a go in New Zealand - with an interesting result! And just for the record, Campbell Live had permission from the council to set Vesa up in the subway and Vesa offered to give all his takings to the other busker, even though his unplugged violin was hardly audible over the other his amplifier and Vesa was close to 40 metres away.