The Problem How It Works The Tech Venues Partners Join the Pilot →
Busk.co Hat Trick · Pilot 2025

Every busker deserves a tip jar
that works.

Festival crowds have phones but no cash. Networks choke when 40,000 people try to use them at once. Hat Trick fixes both problems — so artists get paid, and fans say thank you.

Join the Pilot How It Works
🎩
"The hat goes round
— even offline."
20 min
Wi-Fi after tip
2.5%
Infrastructure fee
The Problem

The crowd is there.
The cash isn't.

"You've just played the best set of your life. Fifty people are clapping. Three have cash. The rest apologise and walk away."

Cashless society has been good for almost everyone — except the performers who depend on spontaneous generosity from strangers. At festivals like Edinburgh and Brighton, mobile networks buckle under the load of thousands of simultaneous users. Card readers fail. Payment apps time out. The busker goes home with whatever was in pockets that morning.

📵

Networks Choke

At peak festival times, mobile data grinds to a halt. Payment apps, QR codes, and contactless readers all depend on connectivity that isn't there.

💸

Lost Income

Street performers earn 30–70% of their income from spontaneous tips. When payment fails, that income disappears — permanently. You can't tip retroactively.

🤷

No Good Workaround

Existing solutions are either too expensive, too complex to set up mid-performance, or still reliant on the same overloaded infrastructure.

How It Works

Simple enough to set up
between songs.

1

Busker sets up the kit

The Starlink Mini backpack powers on. A local Wi-Fi hotspot appears. No configuration, no passwords — just plug in and play.

2

Fan connects & tips

Anyone nearby connects to the hotspot. A captive portal opens. They tip via Stripe, PayPal, Apple Pay, or QR code — whatever they have.

3

Everyone wins

The artist receives the tip instantly. The fan gets 20 minutes of whitelisted Wi-Fi. The hat goes round — even when the network is dead.

Hat Trick is designed around a single interaction: a fan hears something they love, wants to show appreciation, and can. That's it. We've stripped out everything that doesn't serve that moment.

The busker doesn't need to understand the technology. The fan doesn't need a special app. The payment just works — because it runs on Starlink's satellite link, completely independent of whatever is happening to every other phone on the street.

Kit ships pre-configured. Artists don't need to set up merchant accounts, configure routers, or understand captive portal logic. It arrives ready. The only thing they need to do is turn it on.

Accepted payment methods

💳 Stripe 🅿️ PayPal 🍎 Apple Pay 🤖 Google Pay 📱 QR Code 🔗 Payment Link
✦ Every tip unlocks 20 minutes of whitelisted Wi-Fi — the fan's thank-you for saying thank you.
The Tech

Satellite internet in a backpack.
Explained plainly.

Starlink Mini is a portable satellite internet terminal the size of a laptop. It connects directly to SpaceX's low-Earth-orbit satellite network — bypassing congested terrestrial mobile towers entirely.

At a busy festival, thousands of people are sharing a handful of mobile base stations. Each person on a 4G network is competing for bandwidth with everyone nearby. Starlink doesn't compete with any of them — it has its own path to the internet, overhead.

The Hat Trick kit pairs a Starlink Mini with a small router running a captive portal — the same technology used in airports and coffee shops. Connect to the Wi-Fi, you see a payment page. Complete a tip, and you're whitelisted for 20 minutes of unrestricted browsing.

The busker carries the whole kit in a backpack. Battery life is enough for a full day of street performance. Setup takes under two minutes.

🛰️

Starlink Mini

Low-Earth-orbit satellite broadband. Independent of congested terrestrial networks. Works anywhere with a clear view of sky.

📡

Captive Portal

Proven technology. The same system used by airlines and hotels — except instead of a credit card, you tip a performer.

🎒

Backpack Kit

Pre-configured, ships ready to use. Full-day battery. No configuration. No technical knowledge required.

🔒

Locked to Tip Flow

The hardware is configured for one purpose. It cannot be repurposed or resold. This protects the model and the partners.

Pilot Venues

Starting where the crowds —
and the problems — are biggest.

🎭 🇬🇧 Phase 1

Brighton Fringe

Brighton, England · May

The UK's largest open-access arts festival. High density of street performers, tech-forward audience, and manageable geography for a first pilot.

🎪 🇫🇷 Phase 2

Avignon Off

Avignon, France · July

Europe's largest performing arts festival. International audience, extreme street performance density, and a proven environment for innovation.

🎸 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Flagship

Edinburgh Royal Mile

Edinburgh, Scotland · August

The world's most famous busking street during the world's largest arts festival. The Royal Mile is where Hat Trick proves itself at scale.

★ Primary Launch Venue
Partners

Built with the people
who know busking best.

🎩
Hat Trick
Technology Pilot

Hat Trick is the technology and infrastructure layer — the kit, the captive portal, the payment flow, and the hardware lease model. The goal is to build something resilient and artist-first: a system that earns its place in a performer's toolkit by actually working when everything else doesn't.

🌍
The Busking Project / busk.co CIC
Nonprofit Partner & Research Context

The Busking Project, led by Nick, is a community interest company with deep roots in street performance culture. Their research and relationships span the global busking community — and they bring the trust and access that technology alone can't buy.

300+ Buskers
40 Cities
30 Countries
Business Model

Free to start.
Fair to sustain.

How the numbers work

Upfront cost to busker £0
Kit shipping Free
Infrastructure fee 2.5% per tip
Fee usually paid by Tipper (donor)
Model type Hardware lease
Est. yield per kit ~£112/mo
🚀

No barrier to entry

The kit ships free. No deposit, no monthly fee, no technical setup cost. A busker in their first year should be able to use this the same day a veteran can.

🤝

The fee sits with the tipper

The 2.5% infrastructure fee is structured to come from the donor, not the artist. The busker receives their full tip. The tipper covers the cost of the infrastructure that made the payment possible.

🔒

Hardware locked to the mission

The Square-style lease model means the kit is purpose-built. It can't be resold or repurposed. This keeps the economics aligned: the kit only generates value when a busker is using it.

📈

Designed to scale

At estimated yield of around £112/month per kit, the infrastructure becomes self-sustaining well before widespread adoption. Brighton to Edinburgh is the proof-of-concept phase.

Get Involved

This only works if
the right people show up.

Hat Trick is a pilot. We're looking for buskers who want to try it, festivals willing to host it, and donors who want to support street performance culture while it finds its footing.

🎸

I'm a Busker

Get on the waitlist for a free kit. We'll be in touch before Brighton Fringe with details on how the pilot works and what we need from you.

Apply for the pilot →
🏟️

I Run a Festival

We're looking for festival partners who want to improve the busker experience at their event. The kit integrates with your existing infrastructure and doesn't require venue Wi-Fi.

Partner with us →
💛

I Want to Support

Street performance culture is worth keeping alive. If you believe in that, and want to help Hat Trick get to Edinburgh, we'd love to hear from you.

Get in touch →

"The hat goes round. Pass it on."

Join the Pilot