 What makes a busker a street musician successful? How much do street musicians earn on average? That's what my co-author Klee Mirisch, a former business student of the University of Cologne, and I investigate. Every year in the morning of December 24, my brother, Jonathan, and I stand on the main shopping street in Karlsruhe, Germany, and perform street music. We always donate the money we collect to a charitable cause, such as a children's home in Asinzion in Paracord. Believe it or not, in three hours we make about 150 euros. That's far more than I will probably ever earn as a professor. I conducted an intensive empirical study. We observed how more than 80,000 consumers donated to street musicians in Cologne, Germany. In fact, we investigated 72 street musicians over three months. The results of our project are really exciting and also surprising because they contradict what musicians perceive to be important. This study is published in the journal Marketing Letters. A street musician in Cologne earns on average, and that's what our study shows, about 23 euros per hour. But if a musician plays classic music instead of rock, jazz, or country music, she or he can increase income to 27 euros per hour. The quality of the music is also essential. We recorded each musician on video and had three professional musicians evaluate the quality of the music and the execution of the instruments. If the quality is above average, the street musician earns 28 euros per hour instead of 23 euros. By the way, groups with children who perform music on the street in Cologne get the most. On average, 45 euros an hour. So these were all musician-specific factors, factors that musicians can influence themselves. Consumer-specific factors also play a critical role. For example, we find that passers-by, accompanied by a colleague, friend, or partner, are more likely to donate. This could potentially be explained by the principle of social recognition. Research has shown that consumers also donate because they expect that they will be perceived more favorably by those around them and gain a social advantage. Most interesting are our findings on environmental factors that influence the success of a street musician. Contrary to the expectations of musicians, consumers are more likely to donate when it's cold outside. So relatively more people donate when the outside temperature drops. Most likely consumers feel greater sympathy with the basket when it's cold outside. In addition, on an emotional level, a street musician may warm us up when it's cold outside. But not only the outside temperature is informed, but also the days of the week. What do you think? On which day of the week does a street musician earn the most on average? The right answer is on Sundays. On Sundays, a street musician earns on average 35 euros. This may be related to the so-called Sunday effect. Emotions such as empathy, compassion, and guilt may play a bigger role on Sundays because of the salience of religious norms. This Sunday effect on donations has been supported by prior empirical literature, albeit in different contexts. This video gives us some first insights into the results of our study. Please check out the full paper for more details.