Behold the “Algorithm”, our digital overlord

The Busking Project’s algorithm is a simple points system that determines how high you will show up in searches on the site. You get points for doing the things listed below.

So, when a client searches for performers in London, where we have over 800 registered buskers, the buskers that appear at the top have the most points.

As of writing this, we have 6,464 profiles on the site. About half of them have done nothing to improve their profiles. Before we had an algorithm, clients were seeing a confusing mix of “good” profiles, where buskers had put in an effort to make their profile pop, and “bad” profiles, which might just be a thumbnail photo and nothing more.

Luckily for you, it’s VERY EASY to leapfrog up the searches by doing simple things (shown below). However, we have many profiles that are really well made and popular So, if you want to be in the top 100 profiles, as of writing this (23/11/2018), you need 540 points.

It’s all explained below, but put simply; create a great profile, update your events info, become a member, use the site’s tools, gain fans, get hired, sell music and get tipped!

We want performers with the best profiles to appear at the top of the search results – it’ll make the experience of finding buskers for events easier for clients. (Edit profile settings)

So, there are 235 points available for doing these simple tasks, and that’s enough to get you in front of 9/10 of the performers on our site!

One of the main reasons we’ve made this algorithm is to make the site more useful for events producers. So, we’re also giving “points” to buskers who make themselves easier to hire. (Edit events settings)

If you’re keeping a running tally, this means by now you could have gotten 325 points for doing ALL of the above – as of 23/11/2018 that’s enough to put you into the top 400 performers on our site!

Show that you’re taking this website seriously – use the tools we have on offer!

Is this fair? We know not everyone is a musician, not everyone displays signs, and not everyone would feel comfortable getting cashless tips in the street. But, for those of you who have done all the above, as of 23/11/2018 your 485 points will get you into the top 150 buskers on our site.

This site is definitely “free to play”, but we do have “pro accounts” that give you a whole bunch of goodies and points. You can upgrade your account and read about the benefits here: busk.co/pro

Is this fair? Well, yes and no. We took a long time deciding how many points to give. With the above points method, buskers who’ve tried hard with their profile AND become members will be at the very top of search results. But buskers who ONLY become a member, and do nothing else with their profile will have hundreds of “free” profile buskers in front of them. Buying a profile is definitely a good way to get seen, but it’s not great by itself – you still have to have a good profile to be right at the top.

As of 23/11/2018, making a good profile AND becoming a member would give you 905 points, enough to get you into the top 30 performers on our site.

Even if rising up the ranks doesn’t interest you, there are a lot of other features and goodies that you get when becoming a member – we’ll design custom signage for you (with your colours/branding), send you the info of hundreds of festivals to apply to etc. See all the other benefits here: busk.co/pro.

If you’re getting fans, selling albums, getting hired for events and getting tipped in the street, it’s obvious that people like your act. If that’s the case, it’s likely that clients will want to hire you. So, we’re giving you points for that, too.

Doing just the basics gets you ahead of 90% of buskers. But, as of 23/11/2018, to become #1 you’d need a whopping 8,000+ points. This means the only way to get top spot is to do what the top buskers on our site are doing – gain fans, get tipped, sell music and get hired for events.

Probably not. For example, jugglers aren’t going to be selling music albums. And not everyone can afford to pay for membership. However, we’ve tried to balance the points out so that anyone could rise to the top spots, if they use their profile as it’s intended.

If you want to let us know how we could improve the above system, let us know. We’re happy to change it, if there’s a really good reason to.

Thanks! And good luck out there,

Nick

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