The beginning of the end for busking in Manchester City Centre?

A samba band that regularly busks in Manchester City Centre has been told they may have to busk elsewhere, due to complaints about the noise level from local businesses and residents.
The band leader said the band relies on busking for business and suggested that 'we're facing the end of busking in the city centre, this is the first step'.

Read the full article here.

I doubt, and sincerely hope that this does not mark the beginning of the end for busking in Manchester, but it does show a move towards the growing trend at the moment for adopting a more stringent licensing scheme for busking. Plenty of schemes now restrict performers from playing too loudly or for too long, which is as much for the benefit of other buskers as for the general public. The Manchester samba band now plays for 3 hours at a time, which could be described as 'too long'.

In general I'm in favour of licensing schemes as they encourage considerate busking, as long as councils make sure that licences are easy to get hold of and are free.