Great reply second tenor,
This is a long one.
I think we do have a slight misunderstanding and I will try to resolve that here at least in part.
First a little about me and my playing to resolve your uncertainties about what I am doing and if I am busking and earning money or working professionally in some way or being a nuisance or upsetting customers of the locations I visit.
I walk with my instrument to various places including in the city, I do this to practice and also to play music for members of the public if they ask me to do so.
My practice is a very high quality and audiences dont hear me practicing they hear beautiful music.
The public have a hunger for live music and they love the music I perform. I practice pieces and phrases when nobody is seemingly around and yet I am still heard. I practiced a piece yesterday in an empty street and several people inside an adjacent building erupted into cheering and applause when I finished I had no idea they had heard me.
I do not busk I do not demand money I do not play next to groups or individuals unless they ask me to first and I expect no payment nor demand any and when asked to play I often ask permission of all those nearby who can hear me before I play to make sure they all agree before playing.
I have contacted the Music License PPL PRS and they have ruled that no license is required for me to do what I do and they have given me a written statement to that effect.
I should add that I have the ability to play very quietly, I recall playing for a table of 8 outside a public house and after playing a few melodies the adjacent table of 6 were totally unaware that I had played anything when I asked if I was disturbing them.
So I am not selling music I am not Busking I am not being loud or playing in an objectionable way I am not being a nuisance and I am breaking no laws or copyright laws.
The public every day tells me I have made their day or their evening. Sometimes an entire street some 300 or more people will demand that I play and the place erupts into cheering and applause when I do. Residents in the city have told me many times that they do not want me to stop what I do. Everyone loves what I do and no offence is caused to anyone by what I do, apart from a few I will mention later.
Despite not ever demanding any money often people give me money and insist that I take it and I dont refuse it, it is a mark of their respect and enjoyment and it would be disrespectful to refuse and would leave them unhappy. My "takings" only amount to a few pounds in a day anyway and I dont care if I get nothing. I dont do it for the money.
The only people who object to my playing are the security on the door of bars and managed areas. When they do object and silence me the customers right next to them who love my playing and want me to play argue with them and demand that I be allowed to play but the security insist on silencing me so I walk away.
One security guard employed by a bar stopped me when I was stood in the street outside the bar after the bars customers insisted that I play for them. The security guard said I was not allowed to stand still on a public footpath I had to keep walking and standing still on a footpath is an offence, but if I wanted to pay the bar £4000 they would allow me to play music. The customers all were clamouring for me to play for them and the security were trying to extort money from me. This is the level of ignorance and stupidity that we musicians face playing in public.
You are right of course, the answer is to simply leave, but the public then argue with me, telling me to ignore the security so they can enjoy their stay at the bar. I can give you hundreds of examples or unreasonable or illegal censorship carried out by security staff but I think I made my point.
Now your request for how to get round all this.
Observation and local knowledge gained through experience is the first strategy, knowing where security guards are active and which days they are on the door.
Example, at one bar, I am known to the staff and they love what I do and they regard my playing as a desirable attraction for the bar and its customers and they encourage me to play outside their bar. I often go in the bar to buy drinks for myself and other customers that I know. Recently when attempting to enter that bar to buy a cocacola the door security blocked me and said I am barred, I asked why and he said he had seen me play music outside so I am barred, I said I am a customer trying to buy a drink, he didnt care. No amount of persuasion would allow me in and he wouldnt consult any staff in the bar to get their opinion. This kind of thing is very common.
On a different bar the security loves me and encourages buys me coffee and we get on great, he introduced me recently to the Mayor of the city and I played for him in a personal performance and he totally loved it.
Knowing the security staff and what they will accept stops you having to confront problems.
Avoid all privately managed areas. No car parks no train stations no malls no roped off private areas.
Malls are particularly difficult. While being physically ejected from a mall many years ago for practicing a few quiet but challenging phrases during shopping I explained I am a customer in the mall and asked what customers are allowed to do. When they refused to answer I asked can a customer sing to themselves they replied NO I then asked can a customer hum to themselves they replied NO.
Total silence is all that is allowed from customers in malls according to these mall security guards.
Avoid all buildings and shops, having said that I have been asked to perform in supermarkets many times by the management of the supermarket and been complemented after the performance so local knowledge trumps general rules.
Generally avoid playing for anyone who is demanding "play us a song" They often dont even want music they just want to feel in control. If people are walking past and ask for music I often say stay and listen but they often are not interested and dont even stop to listen so I let them go on their way.
For those who are insistent that I play some obscure tune I have never heard or heard of the reply from me "how much are you offering" or "that will be 100 pounds please" usually shuts them up. I dont want the money I use that to stop their demands.
For those who make a grab for the instrument and many do, and they say "give me a go on that" I say no and if they argue with me I demand £1000. Expect a refusal to hand your instrument over to a complete stranger to be met with abuse.
Do not ever hand an instrument over to a stranger no matter who they are, I knew a busker who had a guitar in the city, and a man in a suit looking really well groomed said he is a guitarist as well and politely asked if he could play on the buskers guitar, the busker made an exception and handed it to the man who immediately ran round the next corner and smashed the guitar against a wall and ran off.
You have to be ready for anything.
In my case several times during playing a passer by just hit the instrument powerfully into my face in an attempt to smash my teeth. I was ready for that and prevented any tooth loss or damage to my chops. I unfortunately missed the guy who snuk up behind me as I was playing and screamed into my left ear from 6 inches away.
On another occasion recently a man walked past as I was playing and told me to shut up, I replied telling him to shove that, then he turned on me and started punching me in the head. Fortunately it didnt hurt and the instrument was safe.
I recommend all musicians who want to have a go being constantly on the look out for drunks and aggressive people to protect yourself from.
Awareness of surroundings is the best defence and simply leaving the area if you feel uneasy is the best approach.
So now you may be asking if it is so much trouble why do you do it.
In short I have a thousand times more wonderful moments than I have bad moments. Less than one percent turn bad.
Kids love hearing live music adults love hearing live music I have been told many times that I made peoples evening I have had people dancing in the street many times to my music I have been told by one lady that she was in deep depression and then heard my music float on the breeze and I instantly changed her mood and made her much happier and she begged me never to stop playing.
I generate golden memories for myself and my audiences so how can I stop.
I have to add that some security staff are great and encourage me but the bars change the staff often and unless you build a rapport with a guard or doorman you can assume they will not allow you to play anywhere near the bar.
Simply walk away if there is any possible conflict.
So who am I to say all this? I am a local celebrity I was given the name Trumpetman many years ago and it stuck. I have a large following and a fanbase although I refuse to use social media, modesty prohibits me from making other claims, I have had growing fame for many years but I resent this fame and dont want it.
The public often say "I will make you famous" my truthful reply for years has been "I already am"
Real fame hangs round your neck like a chain and gives you great responsibility. We are an example to the people, we are watched and recorded, and have to hold ourselves to the highest standards while sometimes being treated very badly. That is a heavy responsibility particularly when we influence children by our actions and one thoughtless action might lead to unforseen problems.
So that is it, choose where you perform wisely and you will have no issues choose unwisely and you may face problems.
