The Buskers Guide to Malaysia

Busking through Malaysia was a genuinely amazing experience.
Though most days we found it tough to earn any real profit playing on the streets. Playing music for accommodation and eating cheap we managed to travel all over the country for months breaking even on costs. We faced a few barriers being foreign buskers but locals gave us nothing but support on our journey offering busking spots, gigs, beds, and smiles. Beginning in Singapore we busked our way through Johor Bahru, Malacca, Kuala Lumpur, Penang, and Langkawi always playing tunes for a spot to sleep. We opened the case and played anywhere possible on the side to earn cash including hostel rooftops, open mics, paid gigs, markets, parties, and of course the streets. We found Penang to be the most lucrative in terms of no restrictions for foreigners, busy streets, markets, and live music venues. We’ll continue adding information below including ‘play to stay’ hostels and hopefully this guide helps you start a musical journey though Malaysia full of crazy experiences and busking opportunities we never would have dreamt of.

Permit Info

The only area we ran into trouble with busking restrictions was the heart of Kuala Lumpur. After busking only one song at busy Central Market in Chinatown we were stopped and told to acquire a busking permit to continue , impossible being foreigners. We still hit some nearby streets around Chinatown Market, Bukit Bintang, and opened the case at a few open mics but we found it hard to find a rhythm. While in KL we ended up focusing on our weekend gigs at ‘Birdnest’ hostel in Chinatown, turning them into massive acoustic jam nights inviting backpackers and couchsurfers from all over town; which ended up being much more rewarding then slogging it on the streets in monsoon season anyway. The rest of Malaysia including Malacca, Johor Bahru, Penang, we ran into no problems and played all over town.