Something to think about for you unemployed buskers out there…

You can earn your daily bread by standing in a park and entertaining passersby. But you can also – possibly – develop a second stream of income by taping your work, editing it, and posting it on YouTube. (I’ve shown you clips of Allie Sherlock, who became a phenomenon just in the past several years this way. And then there’s Justin Bieber.)

To make this work, you need a gimmick. Here’s one that has been popping up increasingly on YouTube: A busker (usually a guitarist) sets up shop, and invites passersby to sing along with him. This is more interesting than simply playing or singing, because there is an immediate tension: Will the amateurs be any good? When they are especially good, the posted video tends to go viral. So, you edit out the ho-hum performances and publish only the good ones.

In the video below, the busker takes this gimmick one step further: He pretends he doesn’t know the song (Stand by Me) the amateur wants to sing. I don’t believe that for a second, but I’m sure many viewers do. So, when he not only figures out, in mere seconds, how to play it, but riffs on it amazingly, it makes the show that much better.

Watch it here.